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.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS