Taiwan president reveals help for Japan in China dispute with sushi lunch

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te confirmed his help for Japan on Thursday (November 20, 2025) with a lunch of Japanese-sourced sushi, after China indicated it could ban all imports of the nation’s seafood in an escalating dispute over the Chinese-claimed island.

Tensions between the 2 international locations ignited after new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated this month {that a} Chinese assault on Taiwan threatening Japan’s survival might set off a army response.

Mr. Lai, in footage on his social media feeds, confirmed himself consuming a sushi lunch of yellowtail from Japan’s Kagoshima and scallops from Hokkaido.

“Today’s lunch is sushi and miso soup,” he wrote on his Facebook and Instagram feeds, and used the identical wording in Japanese on his X account. Taiwan’s authorities, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, has in recent times been topic to comparable meals export bans by China, together with of Taiwanese pineapples and fish, in what Taipei has stated is a part of a Chinese stress marketing campaign.

Speaking to reporters at parliament earlier on Thursday, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung stated China’s use of financial coercion and army intimidation to “bully different nations are already too quite a few to say individually”. “At this vital juncture, we should additionally help Japan in successfully stabilising the state of affairs and halting the Chinese communists’ bullying behaviour.”

Japan and Taiwan have a detailed although unofficial relationship and deep cultural and enterprise ties. Japan dominated Taiwan from 1895 till the tip of World War Two in 1945.