Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian said in an interview Japan could be a political and military leader and that he wanted Tokyo to be a more aggressive presence in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan's Asahi newspaper reported on Thursday.
In an interview conducted in Taipei on November 9, the Asahi said Chen called on Japan to help balance out the rising power of China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory and says the self-ruled island must be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
"Given the rise of China, I want Japan to carry out a more aggressive role in the Asia-Pacific region," the Japanese-language paper quoted Chen as saying.
Chen added that he was "extremely interested" in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party's proposed changes to the country's pacifist constitution, which may allow an expanded international role for what Tokyo calls its Self-Defence Forces.