President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of July 19 with a delegation led by Governor Yuji Kuroiwa of Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture. In addition to welcoming the visitors to Taiwan, the president also called for continued enhancement of relations between Taiwan and Japan.
In remarks, the president stated that he immediately set out to develop Taiwan's relationship with Japan upon taking office five years ago, designating the relationship between the two countries a "special partnership." The president noted that although the two nations severed formal diplomatic relations in 1972, they have maintained close economic, trade, and cultural ties.
Two-way travel between the two countries, President Ma stated, has grown from 2.5 million annually five years ago to over 3 million presently, and the two sides have signed the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement, an open skies agreement, and a fisheries agreement. Moreover, Taiwan has established a representative office in Sapporo, and the two countries have signed a working holiday agreement. This series of breakthroughs has propelled relations between the two sides to their best state since the severing of bilateral diplomatic ties, the president commented.
President Ma further stated that two years ago Japan's parliament (Diet) passed the Law Concerning Promotion of Exhibitions of Art Objects from Overseas to eliminate legal obstacles to the display of art objects from Taiwan's National Palace Museum in Japan. Consequently, the museum has been able to go ahead with planning to hold exhibits in Tokyo and Fukuoka starting in June 2014, thus taking cultural ties to a new level. At the same time, the Tokyo National Museum intends to hold an exhibition of imperial treasures from its collection at the National Palace Museum Southern Branch (scheduled to open in 2015) in 2017, the president stated. He also said that Japan's Takarazuka Revue, a renowned musical theater troupe, performed in Taiwan for the first time in April of this year and received a warm reception from audiences here.
The president stated that the Japanese public provided assistance to the people of Taiwan in their time of need after the September 21, 1999 earthquake as well as the landslides and flooding triggered by Typhoon Morakot in 2009. Meanwhile, the people of Taiwan made generous donations to Japan after the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis and nuclear disaster. These gestures by both sides have generated an even closer bond between the peoples of the two nations, President Ma noted, adding that people of other countries were quite touched by the friendship exhibited by the people of the two sides during the World Baseball Classic held in this March.
The president stated that Kanagawa Prefecture's government and assembly have long maintained close ties with local governments here. He noted that the Yokohama Overseas Chinese School is one of Taiwan's most important Chinese schools overseas, responsible for educating the children of many overseas compatriots. In addition, the prefecture's assembly maintains a sister assembly arrangement with the New Taipei City Council, President Ma mentioned. Furthermore, Yokohama City and Taipei City are sister cities, which the president said highlights the strong cooperative relationship between cities in the two countries.
President Ma commented that air transport options between Taiwan and cities in Japan have increased in recent years, while the number of people traveling between the two countries also has been growing. For instance, he pointed out, commercial flights between Tainan and Ishikawa, and between Chiayi and Shizuoka, have been inaugurated, so travelers no longer need to transit in Taipei or Kaohsiung to reach their destinations. The president stated that the development of aviation relations between Taiwan and Japan has brought great benefits, and he expressed hope that the two sides will continue to strengthen cooperation and interaction, thereby adding further depth to the bilateral relationship.
In meeting with Governor Kuroiwa's delegation, President Ma was joined by Secretary-General to the President Timothy Chin-Tien Yang (楊進添), Association of East Asian Relations Chairman Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), and National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Philip Y. M. Yang (楊永明).