《TAIPEI TIMES》Japan-ROC council changes name to include ‘Taiwan’

Keiji Furuya speaks to the media after visiting the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo August 15, 2014. Photo: Reuters

By Lin Tsuei-yi and Jake Chung / Staff reporter in Tokyo, with staff writer

The largest multipartisan group in the Japanese Diet friendly to Taiwan, the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, yesterday voted to change its name to signal a stronger commitment to deepening Japan-Taiwan relations.

The group voted to change its official name to the Japan-Taiwan Diet Members’ Consultative Council, a report by Japanese-language Kyodo News said, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The group’s head and a Japanese Diet member Keiji Furuya said he had spoken with people in Taiwan about the change, which would “more clearly reflect the purpose and aim of the group,” the report said.

Official Japanese and Taiwanese agencies completed their respective name changes years ago, Furuya said after the vote, adding that the council’s rebranding is a natural progression and follows a prolonged period of careful evaluation.

The name change signifies that the pro-Taiwan group in Japan is moving its focus to “Taiwan” and distancing itself from the Republic of China （ROC）, the report said.

It also signifies how the Japanese political sector is taking a more proactive approach and seeking to make Taiwan a direct strategic partner of Japan, instead of conducting interactions based on the group’s shared history with Taiwan, it added.

The group, founded as the Liberal Democratic Party Members’ Talkfest on Japan-China Relations, was formed in 1973, the year after Japan broke diplomatic ties with the ROC, by then-House of Representatives speaker Hirokichi Nadao.

The group reformed as a multipartisan group in 1997, with members comprising of 40 percent of the Japanese Diet.

In the past few years, it has become the largest and most influential pro-Taiwan group in the Diet under Furuya’s leadership.

Furuya has long pushed to deepen Japan-Taiwan ties and has been vocal about his support for Taiwan’s greater involvement in the international community.

He has become the second Japanese politician to be sanctioned by China and banned from entering the country.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES