Wednesday, September 23, 2020

New Japanese Prime Minister’s Senior Defense Officials Are Taiwan-Friendly

Good news!

"Indeed, it was announced on September 16 that Nobuo Kishi (岸信夫), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet and the brother of former Prime Minister Abe, will be the defense minister in Suga’s Cabinet.
... The selection of the new defense minister, a familiar face among Taiwan watchers who is outspoken in his support for strengthening security ties between Japan and Taiwan, may be intended to reassure those who were concerned about the continuation of the overall deepening of cooperation between the two countries that has taken place during the Abe administration over the last eight years.
Kishi, who had previously served as a senior vice foreign minister, is well-known for his support of stronger Japan-Taiwan ties. As a Diet member, he visited Taiwan numerous times as the unofficial but de facto envoy of the Abe administration. As noted earlier, Kishi, the younger brother of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as well as the grandson and grandnephew of two other prime ministers, is no ordinary politician. According to some analysts, he is considered a candidate for the prime minister’s office himself at some future point.
Additionally, Kishi serves as the head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party’s Japan-Taiwan Young Parliamentary Association on Economic Exchange. He has also reportedly been involved in advocating for the formulation of a domestic law that would serve as the basis for strengthening economic relations and personal exchanges with Taiwan, such as a “Japanese version of the United States’ Taiwan Relations Act (TRA)—a domestic law governing unofficial relations with Taiwan."

Vol. 5, Issue 18 – Global Taiwan Institute

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