President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of March 21 with a delegation from Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Youth Division, led by Yohei Matsumoto, the director of the division. In addition to extending a warm welcome to the group on their visit to Taiwan, the president also expressed hope that Japan will help Taiwan join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
In remarks, President Ma noted that members of the LDP's Youth Division visited Taiwan in September of last year, when Representative Matsumoto was the head of the division's International Department. The president said that Representative Matsumoto is now making another visit to Taiwan, which shows the importance that the division places on relations between Taiwan and Japan.
Noting that March 11 marks the third anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, President Ma recalled that the government and people of Japan came to the aid of Taiwan after the island was hit by the September 21, 1999 earthquake and mudslides and flooding associated with Typhoon Morakot in August 2009. Consequently, Taiwan was more than willing to come to the assistance of its northern neighbor after the March 11, 2011 earthquake. The two sides subsequently have engaged in a wide variety of disaster preparedness cooperation, he remarked. President Ma said he is particularly pleased by the assistance provided by each nation to the other.
The president then addressed the development of bilateral relations. He mentioned that six years ago upon taking office he designated the relationship between Taiwan and Japan as a "special partnership." Over this period, he said, the two sides have signed a youth working holiday agreement, an open skies agreement, and the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement, while Taiwan has established a representative office in Sapporo and regularly scheduled flights have commenced between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport. All of these developments attest to the increasingly close relationship between Taiwan and Japan, said the president, adding that bilateral relations are now at their best since the two sides severed formal diplomatic ties in 1972.
As for the development of tourism between the two sides, President Ma stated, prior to taking office, total two-way travel between Japan and Taiwan stood at about 2.5 million per year, whereas this number by last year had increased to a record-high 3.76 million. Within this figure, the number of visits to Japan by the people of Taiwan increased roughly 50% from the previous year to 2.34 million, whereas the number of Japanese visits to Taiwan fell slightly due to the depreciation of the Japanese yen, but still exceeded 1.42 million, he said. President Ma expressed hope that total visits will reach 4 million in 2016.
President Ma also mentioned that later this year objects from the collection of Taiwan's National Palace Museum will be displayed in Tokyo (June 24 – September 15) and Fukuoka (October 7 – November 30), respectively. This marks an important event in bilateral cultural ties, he said, especially since this will mark the first time that objects from the museum will be put on display in another Asian country. Moreover, the fact that Japan was selected as the destination shows the considerable importance that the two sides place on cultural ties.
President Ma stressed that since taking office he has put considerable emphasis on regional peace. In addition to improving relations with mainland China, which has brought the Taiwan Strait to its most stable state in the past 60 years, Taiwan and Japan signed a fisheries agreement that has resolved a fishing dispute which had lasted over 40 years. At the same time, he noted, Taiwan and the Philippines have reached a consensus on how to enforce laws at sea. This came in the wake of the shooting of a Taiwanese fishing boat by a Philippine government vessel, which killed a Taiwanese fisherman and damaged the boat. This resolution of the incident was acceptable to Taiwan, he said. All of these are examples of Taiwan's willingness to use peaceful measures to resolve international disputes, the president stated.
Lastly, President Ma commented that Japan is not only a member of the RCEP, but also has decided to participate in negotiations to join the TPP. He pointed out that Taiwan, in an effort to join the TPP and the RCEP, four years ago signed the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with mainland China, its largest trading partner. The following year, Taiwan signed the Bilateral Investment Arrangement with Japan, its second largest trading partner. Taiwan has also resumed negotiations with United States under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, and signed economic cooperation agreements with New Zealand and Singapore. Taiwan hopes to take advantage of the foundation thus created to join the TPP and the RCEP, the president said, adding that he hopes for Japan's support in this regard.
In addition to Representative Matsumoto, House of Representatives Member Keisuke Suzuki and House of Councillors Member Matsuji Nakaizumi were also in the delegation.