Vice President Vincent C. Siew on the morning of June 18 at the Presidential Building met with the chairman of the Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association of Osaka Minoru Furuichi. On behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan), Vice President Siew extended a warm welcome and appreciation to Mr. Furuichi.
The vice president first noted that the friendship association headed by Mr. Furuichi is active in the Osaka area in promoting friendly relations between Japan and Taiwan. The vice president said that Mr. Furuichi has made enormous contributions in this respect and expressed his gratitude to him.
Vice President Siew said that even though Japan and Taiwan do not maintain formal diplomatic relations, the two countries maintain a level of cooperative relations that exceed those of many nations that do have diplomatic ties. He said that substantive relations cover a wide range of areas, including economics, culture and tourism. Of these ties, however, the most important is that of people-to-people contact, he said, adding that the Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association of Osaka is devoted to fostering this type of interaction. As a result, the association plays an extremely important role in strengthening cooperative relations between the two countries. The vice president said he hopes the friendship association will continue to promote and further develop exchanges and cooperation between the two nations.
Mr. Furuichi thanked Vice President Siew for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with him. He said that the Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association of Osaka was established in 1966. In addition, he noted that the nature of the Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association of Osaka is somewhat different from other friendship associations in Japan. He said the Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association of Osaka is dedicated to promoting the development of substantive and friendly relations between Taiwan and Japan, adding that in this process, the association has received a great deal of assistance from the Association of East Asian Relations. Mr. Furuichi said that diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Japan were severed six years after the founding of the Japan-Taiwan Friendship Association of Osaka. He said he feels it is precisely because of this that the association has such an important responsibility and that it must do its utmost to promote exchanges in a variety of areas between the two countries.