President Ma Ying-jeou met with a delegation from the Yokohama City Council Japan-Taiwan Friendship Alliance on the morning of April 14 at the Presidential Office. The president extended a cordial welcome and appreciation to the visiting delegation on behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan).
The president said that he visited Yokohama City three times during his tenure as Taipei Mayor and had many contacts with the city. He added that he and Yokohama City Mayor Hiroshi Nakada are good friends. At the time, the two mayors decided to hold a contest during which each would deliver a speech in the native language of his counterpart. Some members of the visiting delegation today were also present at that earlier event. The president said he recalls that the contest was quite interesting. Five judges were invited to rate the speeches of the two, and the loser would donate US$10,000 to serve as a student exchange fund for students of the two cities. The president noted that the judges were extremely polite and said that the two mayors gave equally good speeches.
The president said in addition to receiving an honorary doctorate from Yokohama City University, the biggest impression he has from his three visits to Yokohama was the spotlessness of that city's Chinatown, which he said probably makes it the cleanest in the world. He noted that two years ago a Matsu Temple was erected in the city. The founding of this temple reflects that the Goddess Matsu is the most embraced deity among the Taiwan people, he said. President Ma also remarked that he was deeply impressed by the Yokohama Harbor infrastructure. He went jogging in the port area during the mornings he was there. In addition to getting a good look at the scenery of the harbor, he also saw the advanced infrastructure established by Yokohama City over the years. The president also expressed his appreciation to Mayor Nakada and the city councilmen attending the meeting for their assistance in enabling Taipei City to take part in the Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements (CITYNET) that was founded by Yokohama City. He said he hopes participation in this organization will enable Taiwan to have more opportunities to take part in international activities and engage in contact with other cities around the world.
President Ma also commented that charter flights will commence between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport next October, with four round-trip flights planned daily. This will be extremely beneficial to promoting commerce and tourism between the two countries, and will mark an important step in the "special partnership" between the two countries, which President Ma said he has emphasized since taking office. President Ma also told the guests that the future enactment of a working holiday agreement for youth between the two countries, and the establishment of a Taipei cultural center in Tokyo and representative office in Hokkaido will pave the way for even greater development of relations between Taiwan and Japan.
Friendship Alliance Chairman Toshiaki Mori expressed his appreciation to President Ma for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with the delegation. He said that the Yokohama City Council Japan-Taiwan Friendship Alliance is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and that it has already established friendship alliances with councilmen from the Kaohsiung City Council and the Keelung City Council. He expressed his hopes to establish a friendship alliance with members of the Taipei City Council as soon as possible, thereby promoting even more interaction between the two cities.