President Ma Ying-jeou was invited on the afternoon of October 23 to a conference held by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) in Taipei dedicated to ironing out policy suggestions for the government here. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC (Taiwan), expressed a warm welcome to representatives of the JCCI and Taiwan attending the conference.
The president remarked that the JCCI Taipei is an important commerce and industry federation formed by well-known Japanese companies with branches or subsidiaries in Taiwan. The JCCI Taipei is also the largest foreign chamber of commerce in Taiwan. Since its establishment in 1971, the organization has made outstanding contributions to promoting investment cooperation and interaction between Taiwan and Japan, he said.
President Ma said that the JCCI Taipei and the Ministry of Economic Affairs held a first policy recommendation seminar on September 17 last year. The president said that at the time he was traveling through Taiwan to examine the situation after a natural disaster and thus was unable to personally attend the meeting. The president mentioned that he specially asked Vice President Vincent C. Siew to attend on his behalf. President Ma said he feels the recommendations yielded by the conference were extremely important and he asked related ministries to provide appropriate response. This conference, he said, is sure to provide benefits for economic and trade development between the two countries as well as the upgrading of industry.
President Ma commented that since taking office last year, he has worked aggressively to promote relations between the two countries. This year has been designated "The Year to Foster the Special Partnership between Taiwan and Japan," and many important achievements have been seen already, such as the conclusion of fishing negotiations early this year that will benefit those involved in the industry; the signing of a youth working holiday agreement in June that enables youth between the ages of 18 and 30 to spend time in the other nation working or vacationing; and negotiations between the two sides that will pave the way for four round-trip flights daily between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport starting late next year after Haneda is designated an international airport. This will provide greater convenience and shorter transportation time for travelers. Meanwhile, Taiwan plans to establish a representative office in Sapporo to provide services to tourists from Taiwan and overseas compatriots in northern Japan. Taiwan also intends to open a cultural center in Tokyo to promote cultural interaction between the two sides. The president also pointed out that Japan has begun allowing Taiwan citizens to write "Taiwan" as their nationality on their residence cards. Meanwhile, the president said the ROC hopes that Japan's parliament can pass legislation that will guarantee the safety of works of art from Taiwan's National Palace Museum, thereby allowing an exhibition of the museum's items in Japan. All of these breakthroughs are helping to promote an even closer relationship between Taiwan and Japan, the president said.
The president also explained that at the same time that Taiwan is strengthening its relations with Japan, we are also working on improving ties with mainland China. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait have resumed negotiations, helping to reduce the state of tension in the region, he said. Over the past year-plus period, Taiwan and mainland China have signed nine important agreements on issues such as weekend charter flights, tourism in Taiwan by mainland Chinese, the three direct links, financial supervisory cooperation, food safety, mutual judicial assistance, and regularly scheduled flights between the two sides. These agreements have helped open a new era in cross-strait relations, he said.
Lastly, President Ma said that in the future the ROC (Taiwan) will continue to promote official visits between Taiwan and Japan, as well as economic cooperation and cultural interaction. These efforts will prove vital in substantively bolstering bilateral relations. The president said the suggestions ironed out by the participants at this conference will serve as reference for the government in designing policies.