President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of May 16 with Japan Interchange Association Taipei Office Chief Representative Sumio Tarui. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, extended a welcome to Chief Representative Tarui on taking up his new position here. During the discussions, the president also expressed his hopes to see even closer economic cooperation between the two countries in a bid to realize a vision of co-prosperity.
The president remarked that Chief Representative Tarui is an extremely experienced diplomat. Since entering Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he has served as the head of the China section of the ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, as a minister in Japan's embassy in mainland China, as Japan's ambassador to Kuwait, as Japan's representative to the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and as ambassador in charge of Okinawa affairs. President Ma noted that Chief Representative Tarui studied Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University and is well-versed in Chinese language and culture. He is quite familiar with Taiwan affairs and cross-strait issues, the president said, furthermore expressing his confidence that Mr. Tarui will be able to excel in his new position.
The president stated that the "special partnership" between Taiwan and Japan continues to develop steadily. In the four years since he was inaugurated, President Ma said, the two nations have signed a youth working holiday agreement, the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement, and an open skies accord. Meanwhile, Taiwan has opened a representative office in Sapporo, Hokkaido and direct flights have commenced between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport. In addition, the Japanese government has amended regulations concerning the registration of ROC nationals who reside in Japan. The president added that in April of this year, Chairman of the Association of East Asian Relations Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) and Japan Interchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi signed the Patent Prosecution Highway Memorandum of Understanding, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding on the Exchange of Information Related to Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. All of these developments point to a state of relations between the two countries that is unprecedented in the last 40 years, the president said. He added that these pacts are extremely conducive to the development of relations between the two countries.
President Ma remarked that Japan, Korea, and mainland China recently announced that they will begin negotiations on a free trade agreement this year. He said that the realization of such an accord would undoubtedly deal a blow to Taiwan's economy and trade. In particular, he pointed out, Taiwan is Japan's fourth largest trading partner, while Japan is Taiwan's second largest trading partner, with annual trade between the two surpassing US$70 billion. Meanwhile, Taiwan's bilateral trade with mainland China stands at about US$160 billion annually, and at about US$10 billion with Korea, he said. Taiwan's current response to these developments is to actively negotiate free trade agreements with its major trading partners in order to reduce the impact and to obtain the greatest benefit for the nation. Even so, the president stressed that the signing of free trade agreements is not something that can take place overnight, so the government at the current stage is pursuing what he described as a “building block” approach. The president cited one example, saying that since Taiwan and Japan have signed an investment agreement, the two sides could now expand the scope of discussions to other areas, such as tariffs and the movement of goods and services. These talks, he said, would gradually broach the territory of a free trade agreement.
Meanwhile, the president also stated that six years ago the idea of a golden aviation loop including Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Gimpo Airport in Seoul, and Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai was aired. Taiwan, he said, was originally not included in this plan. Consequently, five years ago he floated his vision of a "Northeast Asia Golden Aviation Loop" and after four years of efforts this vision has been realized. This has linked together four important economic hubs in the region, the president remarked, enabling economic and trade cooperation to become even closer while strengthening stability in Northeast Asia. President Ma said this shows that Taiwan should not be absent from an emerging economic and trade zone in Northeast Asia, as it can play a constructive role in this initiative.
President Ma reiterated his hopes that Taiwan can create the conditions to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) within the next eight years. He acknowledged that Taiwan presently does not meet the conditions, but that in the future it intends to work hard to do so. It also would like to complete follow-up negotiations with mainland China on the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement as soon as possible, while also resuming talks with the United States under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. Continuing to speak on the topic of free trade agreements, President Ma said that progress on such accords with Japan, Korea, and other countries would help to forge greater economic stability, prosperity, and security within the region. The president also remarked that on November 22 last year he and then Chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive party Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) both addressed the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei. He noted that both he and Ms. Tsai expressed support for Taiwan's participation in the TPP, so this policy is broadly supported in Taiwan.
President Ma lauded Chief Representative Tarui's predecessor Tadashi Imai for his active efforts to promote interaction and cooperation between Taiwan and Japan during his tenure. For instance, he was instrumental in promoting the passage of the Law Concerning Promotion of Exhibitions of Art Objects from Overseas by the Japanese parliament (the Diet). This law prevents the impounding of art from other nations that is on public display in Japan, and will help to make it possible for Taiwan's National Palace Museum to hold an exhibit of items from its collection in Japan. In addition, former Chief Representative Imai also assisted in the negotiation of an open skies agreement. Taiwan's new representative to Japan, outgoing Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs) Ssu-tsun Shen (沈斯淳), will soon leave for Japan, the president said, adding that he hopes that Chief Representative Tarui will work together with Mr. Shen in the future to forge even greater economic interaction between the two countries.
In addition to Mr. Tarui, the delegation included Japan Interchange Association Taipei Office, Deputy Representative Yusuke Sami, and Secretary-General Kenichi Okada. The group was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Chairman of the Association of East Asian Relations Liao to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Advisor Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen.