President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of May 8 with a delegation from the Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement (OISCA) International led by President Yoshiko Nakano. President Ma, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, welcomed the group to Taiwan and called for further expansion of the cooperative relationship between the two sides.
In remarks, the president stated that one month after the ROC and Japan severed formal diplomatic relations 41 years ago, the father of President Nakano visited Taiwan out of concern for the longstanding friendship between the peoples of the two countries, and dispatched a group of young Japanese to Taiwan to establish OISCA Taiwan. The goal was to forge cooperation between Taiwan and Japan by planting fruit trees and promoting the casting and bicycle industries, President Ma said. The president noted that over these decades, the organization has constantly attended to various activities, such as an exchange program for youth from farming villages. This highlights the fact that even though Taiwan and Japan do not maintain formal diplomatic ties, people-to-people ties have not been impacted, he commented. In addition, he said, the organization's emphasis on long-term commitment to education corresponds to the concept in Chinese culture that it takes "10 years to grow a tree, but 100 years to cultivate a person."
President Ma stated that over the past five years, relations between Taiwan and Japan have been particularly friendly. The government here, he said, has promoted various mutually beneficial initiatives. For instance, the ROC has established a representative office in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and the two sides have signed an open skies agreement and the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement, thus promoting cooperative relations, he commented. At the same time, the president said, Taiwan has taken steps to address longstanding unresolved issues, the most important one being the fisheries agreement signed between Taiwan and Japan last month. President Ma stated that the two sides have shelved the sovereignty controversy surrounding the Diaoyutai Islets and claims in seas in that area, and significant progress has been made on clarifying each side's fishing rights.
The president further remarked that under the fisheries agreement, which will formally take effect on May 10, fishermen from both countries will be allowed to operate in an area twice the size of Taiwan, he said. President Ma explained that this area will be under "joint conservation and management" in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This temporary arrangement, the president said, puts the dispute between the two sides on the back burner, and enables each side to maintain its stance on sovereignty and territorial claims in the seas around the Diaoyutais. The signing of this agreement has been well-received both in Taiwan and elsewhere, including the United States, Europe, Japan, and other countries in East Asia.
The president mentioned that bilateral relations have developed rapidly since the ROC government designated the relationship between Taiwan and Japan as a "special partnership." Last year, he pointed out, some three million visits were made between the two countries, which was a new high. Given that the number of ROC nationals visiting Japan is greater than the number of Japanese nationals visiting Taiwan, President Ma expressed hope that even more Japanese will visit Taiwan and enjoy the rich culture and gastronomical delights here.
The president told the guests that in light of the ROC's unique international status, it is unable to be a party to the Kyoto Protocol. However, the government here has still adopted carbon reduction targets. In 2011, he said, the government promulgated the Environmental Education Act, which mandates that a large portion of the public receive a specified number of hours of environmental protection education each year. This dovetails nicely with the thinking of OISCA, he noted, expressing hope that both sides will engage in further cooperation and establish an even closer friendship.
The delegation also included OISCA International Executive Vice President Toshihiro Nakano, Vice President Etsuko Nakano, and OISCA Japanese Kindergarten Supervisor Yunoshin Kuroda. The group was accompanied to the Presidential Office by OISCA Taiwan Chapter Chairman Chen Chiung Sung (陳烱松) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Advisor Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary General Gary Song-Huann Lin (林松煥).