WDA pushes for Japanese legislation banning the consumption of dogs and cats, seeking support from Taiwanese legislators.

The Legislative Yuan of Taiwan is home to a large ‘Taiwan-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group’, and its vice-chairman, Legislator Hong Meng-kai, has stated unequivocally that ‘refraining from eating cats and dogs is a universal value’.

It is well known that Taiwan and Japan have a good relationship. 2026 is the year when Japan will revise its Animal Protection and Management Law every five years. The World Dog Alliance (WDA) is seizing this crucial opportunity to exert its influence through various channels to push for legislation in Japan to ban the consumption of dogs and cats. Taiwan is naturally one of the targets.

Taiwan, with its limited diplomatic allies, relies heavily on transnational parliamentary exchange platforms (parliamentary liaison organizations), which are more flexible than diplomacy. The most well-established of these is the "Taiwan-Japan Parliamentary Liaison Association," with the "Japan-Taiwan Parliamentary Dialogue Association" as its counterpart. The two sides exchange visits frequently and regularly each year.

As a result, the Taiwan-Japan Diet Members' Association has an average of 70 to 80 members participating each session, which is a very high proportion of the total 113 members. At its peak, it accounted for nearly 90% of all legislators, making it the largest and most influential cross-party parliamentary diplomacy platform. The Speaker of the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan serves as the president of the Taiwan-Japan Diet Members' Association, and the Kuomintang, Democratic Progressive Party, and Taiwan People's Party each appoint one person to serve as vice president.

Hung Meng-kai, the vice president of the association from the Kuomintang, is also the founder of the cross-party "Animal Welfare Promotion Association" and has always been friendly with animal protection groups. As a result, he became the target of WDA Taiwan staff's request, and they visited his parliamentary office in early April.

Xuan Ling, founder of the World Dog Alliance, has written to Mr Hong Meng-kai, Vice-Chairman of Taiwan’s ‘Taiwan-Japan Parliamentary Friendship League’, to explain the significance of Japan’s legislation banning the consumption of dogs and cats.

"Not eating cats and dogs is a universal value!" This was the immediate reaction of Legislator Hung Meng-kai upon hearing that Japan was expected to legislate against eating dogs and cats. He then asked whether Japanese people who love dogs and cats would eat cat and dog meat. From restaurants in Tokyo that sell dog meat dishes and data on dog meat imports from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to the recent incident of Vietnamese migrant workers hunting and killing stray dogs in the mountains, he frowned as he listened.

He stated that over the years, he has established close friendships with members of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, Constitutional Democratic Party, and Japan Restoration Party. He believes that legislation should not be subject to external interference and should be passed actively by members of parliament who reach a consensus. Committee member Hung Meng-kai also suggested that WDA launch a large-scale petition campaign in support of a global ban on the consumption of dogs and cats, to build momentum for subsequent legislative actions in countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam, and to help promote the "International Convention on the Ban on the Consumption of Dogs and Cats" to the European Union and the United Nations.