“The most important thing now is to make sure that war doesn’t break out in the Taiwan Strait,” Aso, vice president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said in a speech in Taipei during a three-day visit to Taiwan.

“I believe that now is the time for Japan, Taiwan, the US and other like-minded countries to be prepared to put into action very strong deterrence,” he said in remarks streamed online. “It’s the resolve to fight.”

He added that clearly showing the will to defend Taiwan was a form of deterrence. He did not specify China as the aggressor, but said it was crucial for Japan, as a neighbour of Taiwan, and other countries that are upholding international order, to send the message to China and the rest of the international community.

Aso is the most senior Japanese political official to visit Taiwan since 1972.

China has never ruled out the use of force to reunite self-ruled Taiwan with the mainland, which has become a source of tension in east Asia and has contributed to a decision by close US ally Japan to boost its defence spending.

In 2021, Aso, then deputy prime minister, called any invasion of Taiwan by China a “threat to Japan’s survival” and said Japan and the US would defend Taiwan together should such an incident happen.

Those comments angered China, which said the remarks “harmed the political foundation of China-Japan relations.”

Aso is scheduled to meet Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday.