Japan's Former Prime Minister and current Vice-President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Taro Aso, speaks during the Ketagalan Forum in Taipei, Taiwan August 8, 2023. Aso's speech angered China, which claims Taiwan as its territory. Keisuke Suzuki, an LDP lawmaker who accompanied Aso's Taiwan visit this week, told the BS Fuji talk show on Wednesday that Aso had discussed the issue with Japanese government officials, indicating that Aso's view did not deviate from the official position. "The comment was not lawmaker Taro Aso's personal remark, but a result of arrangements with government insiders", Suzuki said. Aso's visit, which marked the most senior Japanese political official to visit Taiwan since 1972, when Japan normalised diplomatic relations with China, came as tensions have risen over democratically governed Taiwan amid China's increasing military pressure on the island during the past three years.

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Persons: Taro Aso, Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Taro Aso's, Aso, Keisuke Suzuki, Aso's, Suzuki, Joe Biden, White, Hirokazu Matsuno, Kantaro Komiya, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Liberal Democratic Party, REUTERS, Japanese, Beijing, Fuji, United, Taiwan, Thomson Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, TOKYO, Japan, United States, China, Aso's Taiwan, U.S