Taiwan President Lai Ching-te expressed support for Japan on Thursday by enjoying a sushi lunch made with Japanese-sourced seafood, following China’s announcement that it would ban all imports of Japanese seafood in a growing dispute over the Chinese-claimed island.
The tensions escalated after new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said earlier this month that a Chinese attack on Taiwan that threatened Japan’s survival could trigger a military response.
Lai posted pictures of his lunch on social media, showing himself eating yellowtail from Japan’s Kagoshima and scallops from Hokkaido, accompanied by miso soup. “Today’s lunch is sushi and miso soup,” he wrote on Facebook and Instagram, repeating the message in Japanese on X.
Taiwan, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, has faced similar food export bans in recent years, including restrictions on pineapples and fish, measures Taipei says are part of a broader Chinese pressure campaign.
Speaking at parliament on Thursday, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung criticised China’s use of economic coercion and military intimidation, saying such tactics to “bully other nations are already too numerous to mention individually.”
“At this critical juncture, we must support Japan in stabilising the situation and halting the Chinese communists’ bullying behaviour,” Lin said.
Japan and Taiwan maintain close, though unofficial, relations, strengthened by deep cultural and business ties. Japan governed Taiwan from 1895 until the end of World War II in 1945.
