President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday expressed hopes for closer “special relations” between Taipei and Tokyo, adding that the words best described the current relations between the two countries, which his administration would seek to maintain.
Ma said that despite the absence of official diplomatic ties, the relationship between Taipei and Tokyo was one of special partners. Closer ties could be of benefit to the peoples of both countries and their government, he said.
Ma made the remarks while receiving a delegation of Japanese parliamentarians at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
Ma said relations with Tokyo were at their “optimum” state since Japan cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1972, with two-way trade hitting a record high last year at US$61.8 billion.
Japan is the nation’s second-largest trading partner while Taiwan is Japan’s fourth-largest, Ma said. More than 1.16 million Japanese visited Taiwan last year and more than 1.38 million Taiwanese went to Japan, he said.
Ma attributed the booming tourism industry to the visa-free privileges granted by both governments and the increase of charter flights.
At a separate setting yesterday, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) also expressed the hope that Taiwan and Japan would establish a “special partnership,” with Taipei and Tokyo now in the process of developing economic partnership agreements that, he said, would have a greater impact than a free-trade agreement.
“Despite the lack of [official] diplomatic relations, we have a close historical, cultural and trade relationship,” Siew said while receiving Hatakenaka Atsushi, the new chairman of the Interchange Association Japan, at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
“This special relationship is in fact closer than the one we have with our [official] diplomatic allies,” he said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday also congratulated new Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and said it expected bilateral relations to continue to grow under the new leadership.
Aso, a career politician seen as pro-Taiwan, has publicly vaunted Taiwan’s democracy and called Taiwan “a country” during his stint as foreign minister in 2006.
“President Ma Ying-jeou has already sent a congratulatory note to Taro Aso on his election,” said Hsu Juei-hu (徐瑞湖), deputy secretary-general of the ministry’s Association of East Asian Relations.
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