The Taiwan-Japan Relations Association (TJRA) on Friday appointed former legislative speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) as its chairman, the government-funded organization said.
The association’s directors and supervisors approved the resignation of former chairman Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and confirmed Su as his replacement during a meeting on Friday morning, it said in a statement.
It is unclear why Chiou, 72, stepped down from the position he had held for six years. Local media have cited sources from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as saying that he resigned due to health concerns.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association via CNA
The association serves as a corresponding organization to the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, which represents Tokyo’s interests in Taipei in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.
In Friday’s meeting, Su pledged to make every effort to enhance Taiwan-Japan relations.
The 66-year-old said that during his tenure in the legislature, he was dedicated to promoting exchanges between Taiwanese and Japanese lawmakers.
He also led a legislative delegation to Japan to show that legislators across party lines cherished the nation’s ties with Japan, said Su, who was previously the Presidential Office secretary-general.
Japanese Representative to Taiwan Hiroyasu Izumi on Friday expressed online his gratitude for Chiou’s contributions to promoting the Taiwan-Japan ties.
Chiou was “an important bridge” between Tokyo and Taipei, and during his six years of service at the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, bilateral tourism and trade reached record highs, wrote Izumi, who is also head of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association’s Taipei office.
Speaking to the Central News Agency on Friday, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) lauded Su as an excellent replacement for Chiou because of his close rapport with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) due to their years of working together.
The selection of Su to head the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association is symbolic of the importance Taiwan attaches to its relationship with Japan, Lo said.
The association is expected to play an important role in facilitating trade and security cooperation between the two nations, especially as Taiwan seeks to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, while Japan shows more concern for the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, Lo said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS