Taipei's relations with Tokyo will remain strong despite jitters in Taiwan over whether new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will distance his country from the embattled island, experts say.
Like Shinzo Abe, his predecessor, Fukuda is expected to seek improved relations with Beijing as prime minister, but at what cost — if any — to Taiwan, is a question that now looms large in Taipei.
"People say that (Fukuda) is good to China," said David Wang, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry spokesman. "However, we don't speculate on such matters."
Despite anxiety as to future relations with Japan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing has little to fear beyond a "time-out" in high-level meetings, said Luo Chi-cheng, a Japan watcher and director of the independence-advocate Taiwan Thinktank.