Office of the President Republic of China(Taiwan)

President Ma Ying-jeou met with Chairman of the Japan Interchange Association Mr. Atsushi Hatakenaka at the Presidential Office on the morning of December 10. The president expressed his welcome and appreciation to Chairman Hatakenaka for making a special visit to Taiwan to attend the 35th Taiwan-Japan Economic and Trade Conference and for his contributions to relations between Taiwan and Japan.

The president stated that Taiwan opened a representative office in Sapporo, Hokkaido in December of last year and on April 30 this year signed a memorandum of understanding on bilateral ties, while on October 31 direct flights commenced between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport. These developments mark the continuation of "The Year to Foster the Special Partnership between Taiwan and Japan," he noted. President Ma said he hopes this year's conference will yield big results and take bilateral relations to a new level.

President Ma remarked that as of the end of October 2010, over one million visitors from Japan had traveled to Taiwan, and the number of Taiwanese traveling to Japan has also continued to rise. In November, the five millionth visitor to have entered Taiwan this year was from Japan, he said.

The president commented that the next key area of work for the two sides is to arrange for the display of items from Taiwan's National Palace Museum in Japan at an exhibition to be organized by the Taipei Cultural Center in Tokyo. He urged Chairman Hatakenaka to persuade the Japanese parliament to pass a law that will prevent the impounding by third nations of artwork from overseas on exhibition. President Ma stated that the exhibition of items from the National Palace Museum would mark an important step forward in cultural ties between the two sides.

Chairman Hatakenaka was accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Ssu-Tsun Shen, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Tadashi Imai, Chief Representative of the Japan Interchange Association Taipei Office, to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Lee Chia-chin.