Taiwan’s Vice President Visits Japan to Condole Shinzo Abe

According to reports on July 11th, Taiwan’s Vice President William Lai visited Tokyo privately on Monday, to pay his respects to former Japanese Prime Minister Abe, which became Taiwan’s highest-ranking official to visit Japan in 50 years.

A Japanese foreign ministry official noted that officials at the foreign ministry were aware of that Lai had paid a private visit to Japan after Prime Minister Abe was killed on Friday and paid tribute to him. The official declined to reveal further details, including how long Lai would stay in Japan.

Taiwan’s official media reported that Lai was the most senior official to visit Japan since broken official diplomatic relationship with Taipei and established ties with Beijing in 1972. It noted that Lai visited Abe’s residence in Tokyo to express his condolences and would attend his funeral on Tuesday.

Earlier on Monday, Lai was seen visiting Prime Minister Abe’s official residence with Frank C.T Hsieh, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Japan, report has it.

As early as Monday, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen expressed her condolences during a visit to Japan’s de facto embassy in Taipei, and said she would continue Abe’s legacy by tightening Taiwan-Japan ties and deepening ties between the two sides.

She ordered the flag of Taiwan (Republic of China) to be flown at half-mast until Monday in honor of Prime Minister Abe, who is widely seen in Taiwan as a key figure in warming Taipei-Tokyo ties in recent years.