July 12 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Taiwan Vice President William Lai traveled to Japan on Monday to offer his condolences following the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week, becoming the first high-ranking Taiwanese official to visit Japan in five decades.
Tokyo broke off relations with Taipei in favor of the communist government in Beijing in 1972. Abe was a very popular figure in Taiwan for his support of the island and supported the creation of a stronger Indo-Pacific alliance among the region’s democracies in a effort to confront an increasingly assertive China.
Lai’s visit has been considered part of his “personal itinerary”, based on a tacit agreement between Taiwan and Japan, according to sources in the ‘Taipei Times’ newspaper.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff to honor Abe, who was regarded in Taiwan as someone who had contributed to bilateral ties.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died on Friday after being shot during a campaign rally in the town of Nara, located in the southwest of the country.
The confirmation of the death, collected by the Japanese news agency Kiodo and the NHK television network, came hours after Abe went into cardiorespiratory arrest during his evacuation to a hospital after being shot in the back. The suspect was later arrested.
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