Vice President Vincent C. Siew on the afternoon of September 9 at the Presidential Building met with Japan's Industrial Property Cooperation Center President Mr. Sozaburo Okamatsu. The vice president extended a cordial welcome to Mr. Okamatsu on his visit to Taiwan.
Vice President Siew said that he and Mr. Okamatsu have known each other for a long time and that Mr. Okamatsu is a good friend to Taiwan. He said that they met when he served as economics minister and Mr. Okamatsu served in Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). He said that what made the deepest impression on him was that Mr. Okamatsu was different from other officials who sought to maintain a distance from Taiwan. Mr. Okamatsu demonstrated his pluck in directly making contact with Taiwan, he said. As time passed, the vice president said that he himself served as premier, while Mr. Okamatsu was promoted to second in charge at MITI. At the time, Mr. Okamatsu defied obstacles and traveled to Taiwan to visit him. At the time of the passing of Mr. Koo Chen-fu, Mr. Okamatsu provided information to Mr. Koo's family to commemorate Mr. Koo. Vice President Siew said that Mr. Okamatsu has quite deep ties with Taiwan.
The vice president said that since leaving public office, Mr. Okamatsu has served in a number of positions in institutions on the periphery of Japan's government. He is widely respected among Japan's business community, the vice president said. Mr. Okamatsu is visiting Taiwan this time at the invitation of the Association of East Asian Relations' Science and Technology Interchange Committee. Vice President Siew said he would like to express a special welcome to Mr. Okamatsu on this opportunity to meet at the Presidential Building. The vice president said he wants not only to talk about old times with his friend, but also to learn more about developments related to industrial property in Japan over the past several years.
Mr. Okamatsu expressed his appreciation to Vice President Siew for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with him, especially since the vice president just returned from Africa the previous day. The two then exchanged opinions on the future development of relations between Taiwan and Japan, industrial property, and cooperation between the two countries in the area of energy technology.
Vice President Siew said that the new government has worked aggressively since taking office to improve relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. This work has been carried out not only with an eye to normalizing trade and economic ties between Taiwan and the rest of the world, but also with the hope of reducing the political pressure faced by other nations resulting from tense relations between Taiwan and Mainland China, he said. The vice president stressed that the ROC will never forget the United States, Japan and other old friends that have longstanding cooperative relationships with Taiwan. In the future, he said, Taiwan hopes to further strengthen relations with Japan and pursue close cooperation in a wider number of fields.
Mr. Okamatsu was accompanied to the Presidential Building in the afternoon to meet with Vice President Siew by the Association of East Asian Relations' Science and Technology Interchange Committee Chairman Tsay Ching-yen.