President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of February 19 at the Presidential Office with Japan Airlines (JAL) President and Chief Executive Officer Haruka Nishimatsu. The president extended a cordial welcome to Mr. Nishimatsu and expressed his gratitude to him for making this special trip to Taiwan, his long efforts to promote flights between Taiwan and Japan, and encouraging interactions among the youth of the two countries.
President Ma noted that since taking over at the helm of JAL, Mr. Nishimatsu has engaged in cost-cutting efforts, and mentioned that a report on him aired by the American cable news channel CNN helped to make him quite well-known in the United States and Japan. Mr. Nishimatsu has become one of Japan's most popular CEOs, he said.
The president mentioned that Taiwan's government is promoting 2009 as "a year of special partnership between Taiwan and Japan." He said he hopes the two countries will strengthen cooperation in a variety of areas in the future and will promote interactions among young people of both countries. To this end, aviation relations between the two sides are extremely important. At present there are 250 roundtrip flights between Taiwan and Japan each week, and the total number of visits made by people of the two countries exceeds 2.54 million annually. The president pointed out that the number of people traveling between the two nations has continued to increase since visa-free courtesies were initiated. President Ma made note that JAL has long sponsored Japanese and Mandarin Chinese language competitions in Taiwan and Japan. Measures taken by JAL to foster ties between the two countries exceed the efforts made by most private airlines, he said.
President Ma expressed his hopes that flights will be opened between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Japan's Haneda Airport as soon as possible, which he said will bolster bilateral tourism and commercial exchanges. In addition, he said the government is planning a working holiday project for youth. If this vision is realized, it will further promote exchanges and interaction among young people from Taiwan and Japan, he said.
JAL President Nishimatsu said that his airline began flights to Taipei in 1959, meaning that aviation ties now date back five decades. After formal diplomatic relations between the two nations were severed, the routes were served by Japan Asia Airways, a JAL subsidiary, for a period of time. He said JAL is proud to be able to operate routes between the two countries, providing transportation services and fostering interaction between Taiwan and Japan. He also expressed his desire to see flights commence between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Japan's Haneda Airport as soon as possible, thereby offering the public more convenient transportation services.