Taiwan Will Send Representative to Abe’s State Funeral

On September 8th, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said the Republic of China would send a representative to attend the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, who was shot and killed at a campaign rally on July 8th this year. Less than a week after the shooting, Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-de was reportedly attending Abe’s private funeral as a friend.

A spokesman for Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said that Taiwan has received a notice from the Japanese government about holding a funeral for Shinzo Abe on September 27th. Candidates for the funeral in Taiwan are being agreed upon and will be announced in a timely manner after the completion of the relevant planning.

It is also reported that US Vice President Harris will also attend the state funeral, when there will be opportunity for mutual interaction with Taiwan representatives.

Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa said in early September that Japan plans to take the day before and the day after the State funeral to conduct intensive bilateral talks with visiting heads of state and foreign ministerial officials as much as possible, in the hope of demonstrating both at home and abroad, Japan is determined to inherit and develop the diplomatic legacy formulated by former Prime Minister Abe.