President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of January 12 with Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Deputy Secretary-General Yoshitaka Sakurada, also a member of the House of Representatives in the Japanese parliament (Diet). In addition to expressing his gratitude for Representative Sakurada's contributions over the years in promoting interaction between Taiwan and Japan, the president also expressed hope that those interactions and mutual cooperation will continue to grow in the future.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Representative Sakurada, who was overwhelmingly elected to another term in the House of Representatives in parliamentary elections held in December of last year, is an important member of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council, and has made considerable contributions in promoting Taiwan-Japan relations over the years. In addition, the LDP, of which Representative Sakurada is a member, won 291 seats in the most recent elections and formed a coalition government with the New Komeito, thereby controlling over two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives. President Ma said he is confident that Japan's economy will experience even more vibrant development in the future under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The president stated that after taking office in 2008 he immediately designated the relationship between Taiwan and Japan as a "special partnership." His administration subsequently strived to promote bilateral cooperation and interaction in a wide variety of areas including economics and trade, culture, youth affairs, and tourism, with significant achievements seen over the past six years. President Ma remarked that current Taiwan-Japan relations have never been so close and stable since the two nations severed diplomatic relations in 1972.
The president furthermore stated that Taiwan and Japan in 2013 signed seven agreements and memoranda of understanding (MOUs), including a fisheries agreement. The two sides in November of last year signed another four MOUs on cooperation in the fields of tourism, nuclear and radiation safety regulation, exchange of information for the purposes of border control, and the deposit of microorganisms for the purposes of patent procedures, he said. In just two short years, the two countries have signed 11 important agreements and MOUs, which highlights the increasing scope and diversity of their cooperation, the president stated, adding that this is important for the overall development of bilateral relations.
President Ma emphasized that the government here in recent years has actively sought to negotiate and sign economic cooperation agreements with its major trading partners. The government, he said, is presently hoping to move forward in promoting trade liberalization between Taiwan and Japan, and it would like to discuss and sign an economic partnership agreement and an agreement to prevent double taxation with its northern neighbor, which would pave the way for even closer economic and trade relations. In addition, the president stated, Taiwan is seeking to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in a bid to play a role in promoting and contributing to regional economic prosperity.
Commenting on tourism and cultural ties, President Ma remarked that there is frequent interaction between the citizens of the two nations. In the first 11 months of last year, there were a total of 4.23 million discrete visits by nationals between the two countries, surpassing the goal of four million mutual visits two years ahead of the originally projected 2016. The number of mutual visits this year is expected to surpass 4.5 million, the president said, pointing to the lively and close interaction between the people of both countries.
President Ma mentioned that works from the collection of Taiwan's National Palace Museum were exhibited for the first time in Tokyo and Kyushu last year, the first time these national treasures were exhibited in Asia. The exhibits were a resounding success among the Japanese public, he said, opening a new page in cultural interaction between the two countries. The president expressed hope that this type of international exhibition will further boost mutual understanding and friendship.
Accompanying Representative Sakurada to the Presidential Office to meet with President Ma was Chief Representative of the Japan Interchange Association Taipei Office Mikio Numata.