President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of February 19 at the Presidential Office with Ishikawa Prefectural Assembly Member Yuki Mori of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan), expressed a warm welcome and appreciation to Assembly Member Mori.
The president noted Assembly Member Mori is the son of former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who was a long-time supporter of Taiwan, and also paid close attention to clauses regarding the situation in the Taiwan Strait that are included in the US-Japan security treaty. He had been instrumental in promoting the adoption of visa-free courtesies for nationals of the two countries, which has enabled the number of tourists between the two to increase sharply, the president said. Presently, the number of tourist visits between Taiwan and Japan exceeds 2.5 million annually, which points to the benefits of the visa-free measures, he said.
President Ma also commented that charter flights have been initiated between Komatsu Airport in Ishikawa Prefecture and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, adding that he hopes that Taipei's Songshan Airport will be included as a route between the two cities in the future. In addition, after the completion of a new runway at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, it is hoped that flights will be inaugurated between Haneda and Songshan airports. This would pave the way for further development of tourism and commerce, he said.
President Ma said that Assembly Member Mori long served as an assistant to former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and he has a thorough understanding of the political situation in Japan. The president expressed his hopes that the government's plan to promote this year as "a year of special partnership between Taiwan and Japan" will receive the support of Assembly Member Mori, thereby helping to turn a new page in relations between the two countries.
Assembly Member Mori said that this visit marks his first formal meeting with President Ma since the president took office last year. Assembly Member Mori said that in an effort to promote friendly relations between Taiwan and Japan, former Prime Minister Mori began placing emphasis on Taiwan when he began his political career in the 1940s. He said that he observed his father when he served as his assistant and that he hopes to have the opportunity to inherit the aspirations of the former prime minister and make a contribution to the development of relations between Taiwan and Japan.