Warmed by Japan’s Support, Taiwan Takes Up Sushi Diplomacy

With sushi lunches and chocolate bars adorned with the face of Japan’s new prime minister, Taiwanese businesses, officials and citizens are rallying to support their neighbor as it faces pressure from Beijing over remarks that Tokyo could intervene militarily to defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack.

After Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan said this month that an attempt by Beijing to take over Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan, Beijing has sent military ships to patrol disputed waters near Japan, advised its citizens not to travel to the country, and signaled that it would restrict imports of Japanese seafood.

This is painfully familiar territory for Taiwan, which has faced increasing economic and military threats as China has sought to isolate it from international support. And Japan has seen a resumption of public support for Taiwan in the face of Beijing’s insistence that the island democracy is part of China’s territory.

When Beijing banned imports of Taiwanese pineapples in 2021, Japan ordered a record 19,000 tons of the fruit that year, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — Ms. Takaichi’s political mentor — posed with a Taiwanese pineapple.

Now Taiwan is eager to return the favor. The government in Taipei has lifted all restrictions on imports of Japanese food, including seafood, that had been in place since the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in 2011. A day before that announcement on Friday, Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, posted a video of himself eating a plate of sushi that included scallops from the Japanese island of Hokkaido and yellowtail from Kagoshima in southern Kyushu.

“What are you guys eating? Maybe now is a good time to eat Japanese food,” he said, without mentioning Ms. Takaichi’s remarks. The president said his sushi lunch, which included local cuttlefish and tamagoyaki made from Taiwanese eggs, was a demonstration of the two countries’ “firm friendship.”