President Ma Ying-jeou on the afternoon of March 5 met with a delegation led by Japan's Kyushu Economic Federation (Kyukeiren) Chairman Yutaka Aso. The president welcomed the visitors to Taiwan and also expressed hope for continued strengthening of the cooperative relationship between the ROC and Japan.
In remarks, President Ma stated that after he took office in 2008 he immediately designated the ROC-Japan relationship as a "special partnership." Subsequent work has yielded many successes, including the opening of a representative office in Sapporo, Hokkaido, as well as the signing of a youth working holiday agreement, the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement (BIA), a Taiwan-Japan fisheries agreement, and an open skies agreement. The president said that many cooperative endeavors that were previously on hold have been consummated during his presidency.
Commenting on tourism and cultural ties, President Ma remarked that works from the collection of Taiwan's National Palace Museum were exhibited for the first time in Tokyo and Kyushu (Fukuoka) last year. The exhibitions attracted a total of some 660,000 visits and marked a major event in bilateral cultural exchange. In addition, last year there were a total of about 4.6 million discrete visits by nationals between the two countries, compared with 2.5 million visits prior to President Ma taking office. Of this number, ROC nationals made about 2.97 million visits to Japan, while Japanese made 1.63 million visits to Taiwan, both of which were new highs, the president said. Taiwan is currently the largest source of tourists to Japan, while Japan is the second largest source of offshore tourists to Taiwan, and the president hopes that even more Japanese will come to Taiwan in the future.
The president also addressed economic and trade relations. Japan, he said, is Taiwan's third largest trading partner, while Taiwan is Japan's fourth largest. Bilateral trade last year hit US$61.6 billion, with Taiwan exporting US$19.9 billion worth of goods to Japan, while importing US$41.7 billion in goods from its neighbor to the north. As Japan enjoys a sizeable trade surplus with Taiwan, the president hopes that Japan will increase its purchase of Taiwan-made products. The Northern Kyushu Industrial Zone is one of Japan's four major traditional industrial zones and is home to many renowned enterprises that have also set up operations in Taiwan, including Kyushu Denko Home Inc. and NANYO Corporation. In 2013, Taiwan's imports from Kyushu amounted to about US$3.4 billion, constituting 8.2% of Taiwan's overall imports from Japan. Meanwhile, Taiwan's exports to Kyushu that year were valued at about US$1.5 billion, accounting for 6.6% of its total exports to Japan. Bilateral trade continues to exhibit stable growth, he said.
President Ma furthermore stated that four years ago, Taiwan and Japan signed the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement (BIA), and that the ROC is also promoting the Taiwan-Japan Industrial Collaboration Bridging Project, increasing the scope and depth of bilateral investment and technology cooperation. The president hopes that Chairman Aso and Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry Director-General Yoshio Kishimoto, also in attendance, will encourage even more Japanese enterprises to come to Taiwan, working together with Taiwan companies to expand global markets.
President Ma then mentioned that as Japan is Taiwan's third largest trading partner, the two countries should sign a free trade agreement or economic partnership agreement as soon as possible. Last year, the two sides held the second meeting of the Taiwan-Japan Economic Partnership Commission to look into ways to strengthen economic cooperation. At APEC's First Senior Officials Meeting in February of this year, Taiwan secured a position on the special task force overseeing the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) regional trade agreement. In the future, Taiwan will continue to strive to participate in regional economic integration and obtain entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the president said.
The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Chief Representative of the Japan Interchange Association Taipei Office Mikio Numata and Association of East Asian Relations Chairman Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) to meet President Ma.