Japan's cross-party Taiwan-friendship caucus is sending its biggest-ever delegation to Taiwan's October 10 National Day, a show of support for Taipei and a rebuke to Beijing.

• The Japan-Taiwan Friendly Parliamentarians' Union, led by Keiji Furuya, aims to bring 50 lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties.
• The group now has 323 members, making it one of Japan's largest parliamentary caucuses and a sign of how seriously Tokyo's legislature takes ties with Taipei.
• Taiwan's envoy to Japan called Japan's yearly delegation the largest in the world and said Taiwan will keep pushing back on Chinese military pressure, gray-zone tactics, and attempts to treat the Taiwan Strait as Chinese waters.
• Furuya dismissed China's sanctions against him, which freeze his assets in China and bar him from entry, saying he has no assets or plans there so they have no effect.
• He pointed to Taiwan's huge disaster donations after Japan's 2011 earthquake and the Kumamoto quake as proof of a friendship that goes both ways.

Outlook: Expect the delegation to travel in October as planned, with China likely to protest and Japan-Taiwan cooperation to keep tightening despite Beijing's pressure.