Over 430 members of local assemblies and friendship organizations from Japan showed support Monday for self-ruled Taiwan, which is claimed by mainland China, in an annual exchange event with their Taiwanese counterparts held in the island's southern city of Tainan.
The participants of this year's "Taiwan-Japan Exchange Summit," including more than 100 from the Taiwan side, adopted the "Tainan Declaration," calling for deeper cooperation between the two democracies to "ensure the safety of the Indo-Pacific region as well as freedom and peace in the world."
The declaration also expressed support for Taiwan's bid to join international entities such as the World Health Organization. Amid China's pressure, the island is generally barred from many institutions, particularly the United Nations and its specialized agencies.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, a former Tainan mayor, welcomed the Japanese delegates in a video message, saying the number of attendees reflects the "great importance" both sides attach to each other. "The shared mutual connection is getting deeper and deeper," he added.
It was the second time Taiwan hosted the exchange event, first held in 2015, following a 2018 gathering in Kaohsiung attended by some 300 from the Japan side.
Tainan City Council Speaker Chiu Li-li, the head of the organizing committee for the event, told reporters the exchanges between local politicians from the two sides have strengthened friendship over the past decade.
Kazuhide Fujita, a Nagoya city assemblyman who chairs the Japan-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Consultation Association, touted "long and lasting" friendship between the two sides, saying they are willing to lend a helping hand to each other in times of need.
The next exchange event for local assembly members will be held in Kamakura in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, on a date to be announced later.
Taiwan and Communist-ruled China have been governed separately since splitting in 1949 due to a civil war.
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