KMT vice chair to visit Japan as presidential messenger

Chiang, at the head of a six-member KMT delegation, is expected to meet with Taro Aso, secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and other Japanese political and parliamentary heavyweights to update them on the KMT administration’s stance on Taiwan’s relations with Japan and China under the new presidency of Ma Ying-jeou.

Chiang, who doubles as chairman of the intermediary Straits Exchange Foundation, will represent Ma in clarifying Taiwan’s firm stance on maintaining friendly ties with Japan, according to KMT Legislator Lee Chia-chin, one of the four KMT lawmakers who will accompany Chiang on the three-day visit to Japan.

It will be the second delegation from Taiwan to visit Japan within a month. Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng returned from Japan Aug. 13, after giving the neighboring country the assurance that Taiwan’s diplomatic relations are not tilting toward China. During their visit to Tokyo, Chiang and his group will also discuss with the Japanese political and parliamentary leaders the issue of fishing rights and the possibility of the two countries signing a free trade agreement, according to Lee.

Chiang and his delegation are expected to meet with other Japanese political heavyweights such as former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; Nobuo Kishi, a ruling LDP member in the upper house of the Diet of Japan; and Takeo Hiranuma, president of the pro-Taiwan Japan-ROC Dietmen’s Council.

Other members of Chiang’s entourage will include KMT legislators Lee Hung-chun, Lee Fu hsing and Lin Yu-fang, as well as Tsai Ming-yao, head of the Committee on Japanese Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lee said.

Chiang, who studied in Japan, is scheduled to deliver a speech in Japanese on cross-Taiwan Strait relations and Taiwan’s economic prospects, in Tokyo tomorrow, Lee said.

The delegation will visit Japan at the invitation of the Japan Interchange Association, a quasi-official organization authorized to handle relations with Taiwan in the absence of official ties.

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