Taiwan President 
Lai Ching-te received a Japan Innovation Party delegation led by former foreign minister Seiji Maehara on September 22, calling for deeper Taiwan-Japan cooperation in strategic industries including semiconductors and drones. Maehara, a member of Japan's House of Representatives, is leading the party's public-private partnership promotion council on a visit to Taiwan running from September 22 to 24. Its members included lower-house lawmakers Ryohei Iwatani, Joji Uruma, Kei Hagihara and Ryo Takami, CNA reported.
What did Lai tell the delegation? Taiwan and Japan alike face natural disasters and the threat of expanding authoritarianism, and share the same challenges in economic security, such as supply-chain resilience in technology industries, Lai said. In remarks at the Presidential Office that CNA reported, he said the two countries both sit on the first island chain and share the universal values of freedom and democracy. China has in recent years tried to change the status quo unilaterally through military action, gray-zone incursions, long-arm jurisdiction and transnational repression, he said, and democracies such as Taiwan and Japan can protect their democracy, peace and prosperity only by uniting, raising their self-defence capabilities and strengthening societal defence resilience. He also thanked the Japanese government for continuing to speak up for Taiwan in international forums on Taiwan Strait issues and on Taiwan's international participation.
What did Maehara say? Maehara, whose remarks CNA reported, said that at the recent Japan-US summit in Washington the United States had described arms sales to Taiwan as a very important part of keeping Asia and the Pacific stable and exercising appropriate deterrence. As competition between the United States and China intensifies, he said, weakening the emphasis on artificial intelligence would let China take over the AI lead, and he hoped to keep strengthening semiconductor cooperation with Taiwan. The main purpose of the trip is to bring private-sector economic vitality and private groups into government public facilities, he said, which is why the delegation wants to learn from the Taiwanese government and strengthen ties with Taiwan.
Who else is the delegation meeting? Taiwan's foreign ministry said the delegation would also meet Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung and call on the National Security Council and the Ministry of Finance during its stay, the Liberty Times reported.
Figures referenced: Lai Ching-te. — JudgeMarket.
