President Ma Ying-jeou met with Sony Corp. Vice Chairman Ryoji Chubachi at the Presidential Office on the morning of July 9. The president, on behalf of the government, extended a cordial welcome to Mr. Chubachi on another visit to Taiwan and reiterated the importance of the relationship between Taiwan and Japan. The president said the government will continue to promote interaction between the two nations and seek to further enhance the cooperative relationship.
President Ma commented that he met with Mr. Chubachi in April of last year and the two exchanged opinions then. The president said he is pleased to see the successful development of Sony in Taiwan over the past year and congratulated the company on its achievements. President Ma also noted that Sony has a history in Taiwan dating back 35 years. The company is not only involved in the sale of its own products including computer, communications, consumer electronic and digital items, but also cooperates with local information companies in the manufacturing of products, thereby jointly generating business opportunities.
The president remarked that besides manufacturing, Sony places heavy emphasis on research and development, with the company operating two R&D centers in Taiwan, and in the middle of this year Sony commenced operations of its Taiwan Technical Support and Engineering Center. Cooperation will be carried out with Taiwan semiconductor manufacturers, hastening the development and utilization of advanced technologies. The president said that this initiative is in full accordance with the government's desire for international heavyweights to establish R&D centers here. President Ma furthermore said that the Sony Group covers a wide range of fields, including manufacturing, R&D, hardware, and software. In particular, the company has an enormous global market for its digital content products. Last year, the company sold 230 million packages of gaming software. This emphasis on digital content is also in line with the promotion of the digital content industry by the government here, he said.
President Ma said that he has noticed that the Sony Group has increasingly stressed eco-friendly products in recent years and has adopted the concept of a green supply chain. The company emphasizes its corporate social responsibility, which is quite admirable, he said. The president said that last year Mr. Chubachi mentioned that Sony planned to expand its procurements of Taiwan goods. From 2004 to 2008, Sony's procurements here more than doubled, increasing from US$5.2 billion to US$13.0 billion. This demonstrates that Sony truly excels in its operations, he said.
President Ma stressed that Taiwan places great importance on its relations with Japan and has specially designated this year as "The Year to Foster the Special Partnership between Taiwan and Japan." Besides completing fishing negotiations and signing a working holiday agreement, the ROC in the future plans to establish a cultural center in Tokyo and a representative office in Sapporo. In addition, eight flights a day will fly between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport starting next year, which will significantly reduce travel time between the two cities and provide added convenience to businessmen and tourists, he said. President Ma added that the Taiwan government supports the efforts by Sony to expand its operations in Taiwan. We will also further improve relations between Taiwan and Japan and establish a sustainable cooperative partnership, he said.
Mr. Chubachi expressed his appreciation to President Ma for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with him. He also said that in comparison to Japan, he is deeply impressed how Taiwan industry has still been able to exhibit vibrant development amid the recent international financial crisis. Mr. Chubachi said that during this visit, he intends to visit a number of places and exchange opinions with industrialists. He also expressed his hope that the Taiwan government will continue to support the industrial sector.