President Chen Shui-bian met with Japanese delegates to the "Taiwan-Japan Forum, 2006 Taipei Conference" on July 17 at the Office of the President. In the meeting, the president expressed to his guests his deep concern over the North Korean missile launches aimed at the Sea of Japan on July 5.
These provocative missile launches have threatened the peace and stability in the Asian Pacific region, the president said.
He assured his guests that the Republic of China (Taiwan) fully supports the Japanese government's proposal of condemnation presented to the United Nations (UN), which was adopted by the UN Security Council on July 15 to impose sanctions on North Korea for the missile tests.
In addition, through his guests the president thanked the Japanese government for having listed the Taiwan Strait as an objective of the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee, and for showing disapproval over China's passage of the "Anti-Separation Law" in March 2005.
The "Taiwan-Japan Forum" was initiated by the president when he took presidency in 2000, and its 2006 Taipei Conference, organized by Taiwan's Foundation on International and Cross-Strait Studies (FICSS) and Japan's Institute for International Policy Studies (IIPS), was just concluded on July 16.
Including four Japanese parliamentarians, the delegation was headed by Okawara Yoshio, IIPS president and former Japanese ambassador to the United States. Their visit to the Office of the President was accompanied by Lin Cheng-wei, senior advisor of Taiwan's National Security Council. Secretary-General to the President Mark Chen was also present in the meeting.