Taiwan’s existence is “very, very important” to Japan, Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chief Representative Kazuyuki Katayama told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday.
Katayama in the interview conducted on Monday emphasized the importance of Taiwan-Japan ties based on economic and geopolitical proximity, and their shared values of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Taiwan and Japan share close economic ties, with the trade volume of agricultural and animal husbandry products seeing new recent developments, said the envoy, who has held the position for a year.
Photo: Huang Chun-hsuan, Taipei Times
Katayama’s comments referred to Japan importing Taiwan-raised brown-marbled grouper and pitaya, while Taiwan relaxed restrictions on Japanese produce and husbandry products.
Katayama said that 4.2 million Taiwanese visited Japan last year and the total is expected to exceed 5 million this year, a record.
Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are crucial to Taiwan, Japan and other countries, he said.
Cross-strait relations should be resolved peacefully and Japan opposes any unilateral changes to the “status quo,” he added.
Taiwan and Japan face the same issues, Katayama said, adding that during his year in Taiwan, he could not stress enough how vital the two nations’ relationship is.
Asked about the future of bilateral ties, Katayama cited former representative to Japan Frank Hsieh’s (謝長廷) comments that while Taiwan and Japan are on mutually good terms, both sides should still work to improve and maintain the relationship.
Katayama cited interaction between young Japanese and Taiwanese as an example of the warm ties.
Relations depend on future generations, and encouraging young Taiwanese to study or work in Japan is part of that, he said.
Katayama said he hoped to chat with young Taiwanese to understand their opinions and their views toward Japanese.
On Wednesday, the Tourism Administration said in a statement that more than 1 million Japanese visited Taiwan in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of nearly 50 percent compared with the same period last year.
The growth indicates that the number of Japanese visitors would reach a new high for this fourth quarter since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said.
Japan was the second-largest source of inbound visitors to Taiwan in the first eight months of the year, accounting for 16 percent of all arrivals, following Hong Kong, which contributed 16.2 percent, Tourism Administration data showed.
To attract more Japanese tourists, the agency has partnered with Taipei 101 to launch a baseball-themed special exhibition featuring the ball that Japanese star Shohei Ohtani hit for his 50th home run in this season’s Major League Baseball in the US, the statement said.
A Taiwanese company acquired the ball, dubbed “the most valuable baseball of all time,” for US$4.392 million at an auction held by Goldin Auctions last month.
A light show is to turn the tuned mass damper in Taipei 101 into a giant baseball, the agency said.
Tourism Administration data showed that 6.49 million overseas visitors had arrived in Taiwan this year as of Tuesday, surpassing the 6.48 million in the whole of last year, although the number still falls short of pre-pandemic levels.
Additional reporting by CNA
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS