The Pacific's most poorly served free nation has been given a hand up from the region's most powerful democracy:
Diplomatic authorities from Taiwan and Japan signed a pact on Friday to increase the number of Japanese cities included in Taiwan-Japan bilateral weekly flight services, according to a report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)....The renewed air pact is a shot in the arm for Taiwan in its efforts to double the number of foreign tourists arriving in Taiwan by 2008, MOFA officials said. The pact, which took immediate effect, will not only help attract more Japanese tourists to Taiwan, but will also help boost economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries, the officials added.
Mutual investment is a natural economic boon to both islands. Increasing normative recognition of Taiwan from countries like Japan, a rising international star in its own right, is the perfect poke in China's eye.