President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of November 25 with Professor Koichi Hamada, who serves as special economic advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In addition to welcoming Professor Hamada to Taiwan, the president also explained the achievements in trade and economic cooperation between Taiwan and Japan.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Professor Hamada has an impressive background, holding double bachelor's degrees from the University of Tokyo in law and economics, and a master's degree and a doctoral degree in economics from Yale University. He was the founding president of the Japan Law and Economics Association and two years ago was appointed as special economic advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Professor Hamada, the president stated, has a strong reputation in the academic communities in Japan and the United States, and his opinions carry considerable weight with Prime Minister Abe.
As for economic and trade relations between Taiwan and Japan, President Ma pointed out, Japan is Taiwan's second largest trading partner, while Taiwan is Japan's fourth largest. Bilateral trade last year reached US$62 billion, which highlights the close economic and trade dealings between the two sides, he said. The president then noted that in the area of industrial cooperation, Taiwan has well-rounded supply chains in the high-tech and manufacturing sectors, and distinguishes itself in product innovation and the commercialization of R&D. Meanwhile, Japan has particular strengths in technology R&D and brand image, he remarked. The nature of the industrial sectors of the two sides is quite complementary, and the president said that cooperation between the two would undoubtedly create a win-win situation.
President Ma told Professor Hamada that, in an effort to strengthen industrial cooperation with Japan, Taiwan on December 12, 2011 approved the Taiwan-Japan Industrial Collaboration Bridging Project, and in March of the following year the Taiwan-Japan Industrial Collaboration Promotion Office (TJPO) was founded as a window for contact between the two sides in industrial cooperation. As of the end of October of this year, said the president, 154 Taiwan-Japan industrial cooperation projects worth a total of over NT$25 billion have already been launched. President Ma pointed to the manufacturing and service sectors as examples, saying that the TJPO last year facilitated the negotiation of a cooperation project between Sony Corporation and over 100 Taiwanese manufacturers, and successfully attracted Japan's Lotte Group to invest in Taiwan. Furthermore, the TJPO has facilitated the signing of MOUs for industrial cooperation between Taiwan and the governments of Japan's Mie Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture. The two sides are now in talks on cooperation in the fields of biopharmaceuticals, food processing, and machinery & electronics, the president stated.
President Ma also pointed out that the Business Environment Risk Intelligence, a US analysis and consulting firm, in August this year issued its Business Risk Reports 2014-II, in which Taiwan ranked fourth out of the 50 countries assessed. Meanwhile, in the World Bank's Doing Business 2015 report, Taiwan ranked 19th, up sharply from 61st place in 2008, he said, which indicates international recognition of the quality of Taiwan's investment environment.
The president then mentioned that Japan is taking part in negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and has welcomed Taiwan's participation in the agreement. He expressed gratitude for this and said he also hopes Taiwan can join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to build up more momentum for Taiwan's participation in regional economic integration.
Addressing the topic of mainland China's recent announcement that it has completed substantive negotiations with Korea on a free trade agreement, President Ma emphasized that this agreement could go into effect as soon as the end of this year, and that Korea is a major trade competitor of Taiwan, because there is a 70% overlap in the two nations' exports to mainland China. Taiwan's steel, petrochemical, flat panel, machine tool, automobile, textile, and glass industries stand to take a blow when the agreement takes effect, he said, adding that a number of Japanese industries will also be impacted. He asked for Professor Hamada's opinions on this topic.
After completing his remarks, President Ma exchanged opinions with Professor Hamada on a wide range of topics, including the impact of the free trade agreement between mainland China and Korea on Japan, Japan's current economic, fiscal, and monetary reforms, and the resumption of operations at the Sendai Nuclear Power Station in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Along with Professor Hamada, also meeting with President Ma were Hua Nan Financial Holdings Chairman Teng-Cheng Liu (劉燈城), and Wealth magazine Publisher Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河), and Editor-in-Chief Liang Bao-hua (梁寶華).