Japan's Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council Chairman Takeo Hiranuma has led a congratulatory delegation to Taiwan to take part in the inauguration ceremonies for the 13th-term president and vice president of the ROC. The delegation paid a visit to the Presidential Office at noon on May 20 to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou. Also attending the meeting were Vice President Wu Den-yih, Chairman of the Association of East Asian Relations Liao Liou-yi (廖了以), National Security Council Advisor Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), and outgoing Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ssu-Tsun Shen (沈斯淳).
Firstly, the president on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, extended a warm welcome and gratitude to Chairman Hiranuma and other members of the delegation for taking time out of their busy schedules in the Japanese parliament to make a special trip to Taiwan to attend the inauguration of himself and Vice President Wu. President Ma reiterated the high level of importance that he places on the relationship between the two countries and said that in the future Taiwan will make every effort to promote interaction and cooperation with its northern neighbor, thereby further enhancing and broadening the friendly relationship.
President Ma stated that House of Councillors Member Akiko Santo and others at the end of last year during the presidential campaign here led a delegation of female Japanese parliamentarians to visit Taiwan and wished him success. Meanwhile, two months ago Chairman Hiranuma and Chief Secretary Takao Fujii of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council, made a special visit to Taiwan to congratulate him on his re-election and were the first members of a parliament from any nation to come to Taiwan to express their congratulations, the president said. Also, Chief Secretary Fujii and House of Councillors member Yasuhiro Oei in early May came to Taiwan to attend an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the death of Japanese engineer Yoichi Hatta, who played an integral role in the development of irrigation infrastructure here. What's more, he said, most of the Japanese Diet members present today also visited Taiwan last October to take part in celebrations associated with the ROC's centenary.
President Ma mentioned that over the past four years, relations between Taiwan and Japan have moved forward and many important achievements have been seen thanks to the assistance of Chairman Hiranuma and the other parliamentarians. These successes include the creation of a new representative office in Japan by Taiwan, and breakthroughs in transportation, cultural exchanges, and investment, he said. The result has been the best "Special Partnership between Taiwan and Japan" in the last 40 years here, the president commented. In particular, the passage by the Diet of the Law Concerning Promotion of Exhibitions of Art Objects from Overseas, which prevents the impounding of art from other nations that is on public display, marks a major step forward in cultural exchanges between Taiwan and Japan, the president explained.
The 21-member delegation led by Chairman Hiranuma also included House of Councillors members Akiko Santo, Takao Fujii, Yasuhiro Oei, Toshiei Mizuochi, Akiko Kamei, and Yoichi Kaneko, and House of Representatives Members Yoshitaka Murata, Keiji Furuya, Naokazu Takemoto, Shigeyuki Tomita, Yasushi Kaneko, Hirofumi Ryu, Mitsunori Okamoto, Takahiro Kawagoe, Masao Ishitsu, Hiroshi Hamamoto, Yoshihiko Watanabe, Nobuyuki Fukushima, Kumiko Hayakawa, and Masae Kobayashi. The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Japan Interchange Association Taipei Office Chief Representative Sumio Tarui.