Saturday’s Mainichi wrote that the ruling LDP decided on Friday to ask the Abe administration to consider adding Taiwan to the four nations – Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Thailand – with  which it plans to resume reciprocal travel in the summer given that the island region has been just as successful as them in combating the novel coronavirus.   

In a related story, Sunday’s Sankei reported that in late May the Taiwanese government donated some 50,000 items of personal protective equipment to a Japanese parliamentary group promoting bilateral relations for distribution to healthcare providers and firefighters. As Taipei also donated some 2 million face masks to Japan in April, the daily said LDP officials were very grateful for Taiwan’s generosity.