Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has died at age 90, a loss for Japan-Taiwan relations given his long history of friendly ties with Taipei.

• Fukuda served as Japan's 91st prime minister and had earlier been chief cabinet secretary under two previous PMs.
• Taiwan's foreign minister expressed condolences and instructed Taiwan's representative office in Japan to pass official sympathy to his family.
• Fukuda visited Taiwan during his career and personally paid respects at Taiwan's Tokyo office when former president Lee Teng-hui died, reflecting years of warm ties.
• After leaving politics, he kept working to improve Japan-China relations while in office he had pushed global warming policy.
• Taiwan's government framed the relationship as resting on shared values of democracy, freedom, human rights, and rule of law.

Outlook: Taiwan is expected to keep highlighting these personal ties with Japanese leaders as it seeks deeper cooperation with Tokyo.