The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Taipei yesterday presented its first-ever annual white paper to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), urging his administration to sign tax and investment enhancement agreements with Japan to avoid double taxation.
“Should the double taxation issue be addressed, Japanese businesses, which hesitate to tap into Taiwan, especially those in the manufacturing sector, would be the best business partners for their Taiwanese counterparts,” chamber chairman Kazuhira Ogura told a media briefing yesterday.
The Taipei-based chamber was founded in 1971 and represents 420 Japanese businesses in Taiwan.
Ogura said many South Korean and Japanese businesses have decided to skirt Taiwan after learning of the double taxation hurdle.
Currently, Taiwan has signed similar tax treaties with 16 countries, while Japan has done the same with 56 other countries, but not Taiwan, the chamber said.
Many small and medium-sized Japanese businesses would also come to Taiwan if an investment enhancement agreement was in place to promote trade exchanges between the two countries, Ogura said.
The agreements would lay a foundation for both countries to further negotiate a bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA), which the chamber threw its support behind, even though it is aware of the political challenges that it would create.
“Perhaps the Japanese government is under political pressure and has an uncertain stance [on an FTA], but the chamber will try its best to lobby the Japanese government” said Ogura, who is also chairman of Mitsubishi Corp’s local subsidiary.
In response, Ma lauded Japan as the nation’s second-largest trade partner with US$60 billion in annual trade, as well as the biggest investor in Taiwan after having submitted as many as 5,000 investment applications in the past five decades.
To further strengthen ties between Taiwan and Japan, Ma said his administration has earmarked this year as Taiwan and Japan’s special partnership enhancement year.
Taiwan hopes to soon launch direct flights between Taipei Songshan Airport (松山機場) and Japan’s Haneda Airport, set up a liaison office in Sapporo as some 280,000 Taiwanese tourists visit the city each year and promote cultural exchanges with Tokyo, Ma told a gathering yesterday.
In its white paper, the chamber detailed its 59 recommendations to the government in six categories, while expressing its support for Taiwan signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
The ECFA would facilitate further cooperation among businesses in Taiwan, Japan and China, Ogura said.
In addition to trade, talent and information exchanges, the chamber also urged both countries to set up direct governmental channels for dialogue between officials of both countries at the ministerial level and for both sides to engage in talks on a regular basis.
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