Japan, Taiwan agree to bolster cooperation in field of economic security

Japan and Taiwan on Friday agreed to bolster cooperation in the field of economic security with an emphasis on supply chain resiliency for semiconductors and other crucial goods, local media reported.

During the virtual talks attended by members of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, the Taiwanese side showed strong interest in a planned bill to promote economic security which Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government aims to submit to parliament next year, Kyodo News reported.

According to the Japanese publication, the meeting was held as the LDP has stepped up exchanges with the Taiwanese ruling party, the self-ruled island facing military pressure from an increasingly assertive China.

"We must make it effective legislation," Kyodo News quoted Akimasa Ishikawa, head of the LDP's Economy, Trade and Industry Division.

In the meeting, the LDP welcomed Taipei's bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement between 11 Pacific Rim countries, which China has also applied to join, said Masahisa Sato, chief of the LDP Foreign Affairs Division.

Earlier, Japan, a member of the TPP, said it welcomes Taiwan's application to take part in the trade deal and it sees no technical problem with it, while Beijing has expressed strong opposition to Taipei's move and has lodged a protest to it, Kyodo News reported.

Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.