President Ma Ying-jeou on the evening of January 9 attended a New Year’s reception held by the Japanese Association in Taiwan and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Taipei. The president expressed hope that in the New Year, Taiwan and Japan will continue to strengthen their interaction and cooperation in economics and trade, thereby deepening bilateral relations.
In remarks, President Ma first wished all those attending the event a Happy New Year in Japanese. He then noted that the Japanese Association in Taiwan and Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Taipei are important civic organizations for Japanese nationals living in Taiwan. He applauded the groups' contributions over the years in striving to promote interaction and cooperation between the two countries.
As for Taiwan-Japan relations, President Ma stated that, upon taking office in 2008, he immediately designated the Taiwan-Japan relationship as a "special partnership," and his administration has thus actively promoted bilateral interaction and cooperation in the areas of economics and trade, culture, and tourism. The president also pointed out that over the past seven years Taiwan and Japan have signed 24 agreements including a youth working holiday agreement, the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement, and a fisheries agreement. Amendments to the aviation agreement between the two sides was also completed, making the "open skies" policy a reality. These agreements, he noted, will all have concrete benefits for people in both countries.
Regarding achievements in cultural and tourism-related exchanges, President Ma pointed to the cultural treasures from Taiwan's National Palace Museum that were exhibited in Japan last year. That exhibition, the first of its kind, attracted a total of 660,000 patrons, creating a wave of interest in the treasures of Taiwan's foremost museum. In addition, progress in the area of tourism has far exceeded expectations, the president said, with statistics showing that from January to November of last year there were 4.23 million discrete visits between the two countries, with ROC nationals making 2.75 million visits to Japan, and Japanese making 1.48 million visits to Taiwan. Furthermore, over the past year, 99 members of Japan's parliament (Diet) and 30 local leaders have visited Taiwan. All of these developments point to the increasing frequency of interaction between the two countries in the political sphere, he stated.
President Ma also commented on bilateral economic and trade relations, remarking that Japan is Taiwan's third largest trading partner, while Taiwan is Japan's fourth largest. Bilateral trade in the first 11 months of last year reached US$56.6 billion, he said. The president explained that close on the heels of the signing of the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement four years ago, the Taiwan-Japan Industrial Collaboration Bridging Project was launched, and that as of October of last year these initiatives had resulted in a total of 154 industrial cooperation projects worth approximately NT$25.6 billion. These successes confirm that the underlying policy direction is correct, and President Ma said that the government will strive to promote more projects of this type in the future.
The president then set forth his vision for Taiwan-Japanese cooperation in 2015. He noted that Taiwan has already signed 24 agreements with Japan, so many building blocks for a free trade agreement are already in place. He expressed hope that Taiwan and Japan will thus be able to gradually negotiate and sign an economic partnership or free trade agreement that will strengthen bilateral cooperation. At the same time, the president stated, he hopes that Taiwan, along with Japan, will join regional economic integration mechanisms such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to further multilateral relations.
In closing, President Ma expressed that in the coming year, the Year of the Ram according to the lunar calendar, he hopes that the cordial relations between Taiwan and Japan will reach new heights. Together with the attendees Judicial Yuan President Rau Hau-min (賴浩敏), National Development Council Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), Association of East Asian Relations Chairman Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrew Jen-Chuan Kao (高振群), Chief Representative of the Japan Interchange Association Taipei Office Mikio Numata, Japanese Association in Taiwan Chairman Yasuhiko Niwa, and Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Taipei Chairman Hiroshi Ishizuka, the president led a ceremony to mark the New Year, offering a toast while everyone exchanged best wishes for the New Year.