Ruling party vice president calls for peace over Taiwan

Taro Aso, vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, voiced a warning Wednesday about China’s increased military pressure on Taiwan, saying in his speech in Washington that there should be more peaceful communication between Beijing and Taipei.

Aso, a former Japanese prime minister, said, “China’s choice of a hasty military unification of Taiwan will only disrupt the international order for its own convenience” and “this must not be tolerated,” when he spoke at an event organized by the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, a U.S. think tank.

Ahead of Taiwan’s presidential election on Saturday, Aso said Japan and the United States should also continue to seek dialogue with China, touching on the need to work closely together in persuading the Asian power to exercise restraint.