Japanese Representative to Taiwan Mikio Numata yesterday said that he hoped Taipei and Tokyo could take their “best relationship” to the next level, as he unveiled the new doorplate for the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, which on Sunday changed its name from the Interchange Association, Japan.
In his unveiling ceremony speech, Numata said since the association’s establishment in December 1972, Taiwan and Japan have rapidly “developed a friendly relationship that is rare around the world.”
“At that time, bilateral trade between the two sides only amounted to about US$1 billion, but that climbed to US$57.9 billion in 2015. As for bilateral visits, only 200,000 visitors were recorded in 1972, but in 2015 we saw a record-high 6 million visitors,” Numata said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Assistance offered by Taiwanese in the wake of major earthquakes that hit Japan in 2011 and last year has also brought the two nations closer together, Numata said.
The name change came following a survey early last year, which found that only 14 percent of Taiwanese respondents knew about the association, Numata said, adding that he hoped the inclusion of Taiwan in the association’s name would change that.
“The unveiling ceremony also marks a new chapter in the Taiwan-Japan relationship. Let us work together on bilateral ties, which are already at their best in history,” Numata said.
The association represents Japan’s interests in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties, which ended in 1972, when Taiwan set up a quasi-official organization, the Association of East Asian Relations, to handle ties with Japan.
In 1992, the association’s Tokyo office changed its name to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, which serves as Taipei’s de facto embassy in Tokyo.
Association of East Asian Relations president Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) congratulated the Japanese association on its “name change,” which he said took many predecessors tremendous time and effort.
“This outcome carries more than a symbolic meaning and is not just a superficial name change,” Chiou said.
Taiwanese independence groups cheered the name change outside of the ceremony.
“It is another giant step toward correcting our name to ‘Taiwan’ in the international community,” the group 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign said in a news release yesterday, urging the Association of East Asian Relations to change its name to the “Taiwan-Japan Exchange Association.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique