President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of March 4 with former Japanese Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma. The president thanked Mr. Kyuma for establishing the Japan-Taiwan Security Dialogue Promotion Council and placing emphasis on East Asian security issues. He also expressed his hope that the two countries will not only see significant progress in economic, trade, and tourism exchanges, but also usher in broader cooperation in other areas.
President Ma stated that in the two years and nine months since taking office in 2008, he has been aggressively seeking to improve relations with Japan. Over this period, unprecedented progress has been seen on a number of fronts, including the signing of a youth working holiday agreement, the commencement of direct flights between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport, and the establishment of a representative office in Sapporo, Hokkaido.
When discussing the current close state of economic and trade relations, as well as buoyant tourism between the two sides, the president noted that bilateral trade volume continues to increase. Japan is Taiwan's second largest trading partner, while Taiwan is Japan's fourth largest. Meanwhile, the number of Japanese tourists visiting Taiwan rose 9.37% last year to reach 1.1 million. At the same time, the number of Taiwanese visiting Japan last year rose 23% to 1.37 million. Taiwan's tourism industry grew the fastest ever last year, the president remarked, noting that the five millionth visitor last year was a Japanese woman, who received a variety of commemorative items to mark the occasion.
The president said he hopes that the Japanese parliament (Diet) will soon pass legislation to provide protection for cultural relics from other nations. This will enable Taiwan's National Palace Museum to stage exhibitions in Japan, which would further promote bilateral cultural exchange. The president also mentioned that in the wake of the signing of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement last June, Taiwan and Japan can work together to develop markets in mainland China.
Former Defense Minister Kyuma and his delegation were accompanied to the Presidential Office in the afternoon by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ssu-Tsun Shen to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Lee Chia-chin.