Vice President Vincent C. Siew on the morning of July 20 attended the Taiwan-Japan Forum Taipei 2008 International Conference, which was sponsored by the Taiwan-based Foundation on International & Cross-Strait Studies and the Japan-based World Peace Research Institute. The vice president extended a warm welcome to the guests and expressed his wishes for a successful conference.
In remarks to the gathering, Vice President Siew said that while Japan and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic ties, substantive relations maintained by the two are extremely close. The vice president particularly pointed to the areas of economy, culture, tourism and people-to-people contacts, as examples of the close ties.
The vice president furthermore said that he served at the Board of Foreign Trade over 30 years ago. In addition to being involved in economic and trade affairs, he said he was responsible for engaging in negotiations with Japan. He said that based on his observations, relations between Taiwan and Japan have only become closer over the past 30-odd years. He added that this is also highlighted by the fact that Japan is Taiwan’s second largest trading partner. Taiwan’s economic development model over the past four decades has been quite similar to Japan’s. Taiwan’s private sector has frequent interaction with Japanese enterprises. The vice president said the trade and economic relationship between the two is inter-reliant and is mutually beneficial.
Vice President Siew said the Taiwan-Japan relationship is developing in a number of new spheres. He specifically pointed out the response to global climate change and the Kyoto Protocol. He said Japan has set forth and adopted many measures with regards to environmental protection and energy issues. At the same time, the new government on Taiwan has set objectives and directions for related issues. The vice president said this is an important area where the two sides can strengthen cooperation in the future, adding that this is just one of many areas where interaction between the two sides can be bolstered.
Vice President Siew said he strongly approves of the main theme of this conference – Building a Framework for Order in the East Asian Region. He said the theme is extremely meaningful, especially when the new government led by President Ma Ying-jeou has adopted a number of new measures since taking office on May 20. These include improving cross-strait relations and opening the door to negotiation. Vice President Siew said these moves will have a positive impact to a certain degree on regional peace and security. He also said that President Ma has publicly said many times, and especially in interviews with the Japanese media, that he has a good understanding of Japan and he hopes that relations between Taiwan and Japan can be strengthened based on the strong foundation that already exists. While recently a dispute arose in the Diaoyutai islands involving fishing rights, he said he was pleased that the two governments were able to quickly resolve the situation in a peaceful and rational manner. He added that President Ma expressed confidence in actively promoting the relationship between the two countries, thereby boosting mutual cooperation.
Vice President Siew also mentioned that in an effort to promote greater interaction between youth of the two nations, the Japanese government is presently examining the visa system for Taiwan young people between the ages of 18 and 30 and interested in going to Japan on work holidays. Tokyo is looking into providing one-year visas for those interested. If the changes are realized, this would make it easier for young people from Taiwan to visit Japan and would be a positive development in boosting interaction, the vice president said.
Vice President Siew said that President Ma is extremely interested in the conference. However, due to pressing matters, he is unable to attend. He does want to meet with the visiting Japanese delegation after the conference so that they can exchange opinions face to face on issues of mutual importance. The vice president attributed the strong state of relations between Taiwan and Japan today to the continued efforts by the guests attending the conference in airing ideas and forging cooperation. He said he hopes mutual understanding and communication can be strengthened in the future by holding similar conferences. This would foster greater wellbeing for the people of the two countries, he said.