Taiwan situation ‘tilting toward emergency,’ former Japan PM says

The Taiwan Strait is “gradually tilting toward a time of emergency," former Prime Minister Taro Aso said in Taipei on Tuesday, during a rare visit to the democratic island by a senior lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Aso, who currently is LDP vice president, kicked off a three-day trip to Taiwan — the first by such a high-ranking party official since Tokyo severed diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1972 — on Monday.

“The environment in Japan and Taiwan has changed substantially,” Aso said during a livestreamed keynote speech at the Ketagalan Forum security dialogue. “I think that although we are now in a period of peace ... we are gradually tilting toward a time of emergency.”