Pro-Taiwan group to form in LDP?

My friend Sponge Bear tells me that junior members of the LDP are forming a pro-Taiwan group within the Japanese party to counter pro-China politicians:

Some 20 Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers who see China as a threat will form a parliamentary league to push closer ties with Taiwan and India, possibly in May, LDP sources said Saturday.

Members of the planned group, mainly junior and midranked LDP lawmakers, apparently aim to counter moves by pro-China groups within the LDP, the sources said.

The LDP's pro-China ranks, including former Secretary General Koichi Kato and others critical of Abe, are trying to form another group by bringing together three like-minded camps.

To counter the move, Keiji Furuya, a House of Representatives member, and other lawmakers who have similar stances to Abe's are expected to be key members of the new group that is seen as anti-China, the sources said.

It's good that Japan is recognizing the importance of a region-wide security arrangement that puts together Taiwan and India, something a number of thoughtful minds have long advocated. Japan and Australia recently inked a security pact that appears to be aimed at China, and it appears that the US is also studying closer links with India, according to that article.

Meanwhile, it is hard to see how Japan and Taiwan can get together, since squirrels from Taiwan are pillaging Japanese forests.

[Taiwan] [China] [Japan] (hat tip to Sponge Bear)