Taiwan used a Tokyo-Taipei think tank event to push back at Beijing, framing Japanese lawmakers' free travel to Taiwan as proof the island is not part of China.

• The Indo-Pacific Strategy Think Tank marked two years with a dinner in Taipei, and President Lai Ching-te's top aide Pan Men-an delivered his greetings.
• Pan pointed to Japanese lawmaker Seki Hei, who is sanctioned by China and barred from entering it but can come and go from Taiwan freely — proof, he said, that Taiwan does not belong to China.
• Seki Hei, born in China and once part of its democracy movement, called the Chinese Communist Party a devil-like dictatorship.
• Another Japanese lawmaker, Kitamura Haruo, said he wants Japan to copy the US and pass its own Taiwan Relations Act and Taiwan Travel Act.
• Taiwan was urged to keep building its own defenses and stay steady against Chinese pressure short of war and disinformation, echoing Lai's line that peace depends on strength.

Outlook: Expect more Japanese lawmakers to press for formal legal ties with Taiwan, and more friction with Beijing as they do.