TOKYO/TAIPEH (Bloomberg): Taiwan’s premier made a personal trip to Japan and appeared in public to watch the island’s baseball team in action, a rare visit that risks deteriorating Tokyo’s ties with China further.
Premier Cho Jung-tai said he was in Tokyo to watch the game between Taiwan and the Czech Republic on Saturday and paid for the trip out of his own pocket, he told reporters in Taipei on Sunday.
"My only arrangement there was to cheer for Team Taiwan with our compatriots,” Cho said, adding there was "no other objective” for the trip.
The visit marks the first time a premier from the self-ruled democracy has publicly visited Japan since Taipei and Tokyo severed diplomatic relations in 1972. Cho’s trip came as relations between Beijing and Tokyo remain at a low point after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that Japan’s armed forces could theoretically be deployed in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
China has since responded with countermeasures such as travel warnings and advisories, as well as export controls targeting Japan.
A Taiwanese Cabinet spokesperson didn’t respond to questions seeking further information on the visit. China’s Foreign Ministry didn’t reply to a request for comment outside regular business hours, while the Japanese foreign ministry was not available for comment on a Sunday.
Visits by senior officials from Taiwan to Japan are sensitive, and such trips, if any, are usually conducted discreetly.
In 2022, then-Vice President Lai Ching-te traveled to Japan to mourn the death of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "on his personal capacity,” making him the highest-ranking official from Taiwan to visit the country in more than five decades. Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung reportedly also made a trip to Japan in July last year, which triggered protests from Beijing.
Cho’s visit to Japan hasn’t resulted in an immediate response by the People’s Liberation Army in the Taiwan Strait. No PLA aircraft were detected between 6 a.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday, after a brief appearance of two aircraft in the previous 24-hour period, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry. There has been a mysterious slowdown in PLA activity since late February.
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