Taiwan should quickly reopen its borders for East Asian political experts and Chinese-language students so that they can see the free and open country for themselves, a delegation from the University of Tokyo’s cross-strait relations research group told President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at a meeting at the Presidential Office yesterday.
Some members of the delegation comprising Japanese and Taiwanese researchers had to obtain visas in advance, as Taiwan has not reinstated a visa-waiver program for Japanese that was suspended early in the COVID-19 pandemic, said politics professor Yasuhiro Matsuda, who led the delegation.
Like Japan, Taiwan is grappling with how to ease a quarantine requirement for inbound travelers, Matsuda said.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office via CNA
He had to wait for 18 months to obtain his visa, he added.
“People around the world increasingly want to study Mandarin in Taiwan. Moreover, experts who are concerned about the developments in East Asian countries are eager to visit Taiwan and see for themselves the situation here. They can investigate, study and exchange views with Taiwanese experts,” he said.
“A free and open society is Taiwan’s greatest advantage. More of Taiwan’s fortes can be developed as it moves toward a more open society,” he said. “If Taiwan reopens its borders, more people can see the country’s outstanding achievements in various disciplines.”
The world is rediscovering the value of Taiwan, but many are concerned about its safety, as democracy worldwide is under threat, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to China’s large military exercises around Taiwan, Matsuda said.
“However, anxiety alone cannot solve any problem. The important thing is that Taiwan, Japan, the US and other allies negotiate over the goals they are seeking to achieve,” he said.
Sending messages to China is also important, he said, adding that they must be based on “a strong will and [the] capabilities of Taiwan’s government and people to defend the country.”
“A lack of capabilities would not help highlight Taiwan’s security interests when it engages in cooperation with other countries or communicates with China,” he said.
Matsuda said that the relationship between Taiwan and Japan is a virtuous circle: Japan last year donated Astra-Zeneca COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan, while Taiwan lifted an import ban on food products from five Japanese prefectures affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
Taiwan is also seeking Japan’s support for its efforts to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, he added.
“It is unfortunate and a great pity that former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe passed away in July... [Abe] was competent in implementing policies and a core figure of this virtuous circle. We must not let the circle stop with his passing,” he said.
Matsuda also praised Taiwan for implementing a “zero tolerance” policy early in the COVD-19 pandemic, which gave the nation enough time before vaccines became available and it could work on gradually increasing its vaccination rate.
Taiwan is one of the rare examples in the world that proves that economic development and disease prevention can coexist through collective awareness of containing the coronavirus, and a flexible and effective enforcement of disease prevention policies, he said.
Tsai thanked Japan for highlighting the importance of stability across the Taiwan Strait on multiple important occasions.
“As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will neither provoke conflict nor escalate tensions with China,” Tsai told the delegation.
The president said the friendship and cooperation between Taiwan and Japan can deepen through exchanges of all levels, citing her meeting on Tuesday with Japanese Representative Keiji Furuya, chair of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council.
The delegation also met with Vice President William Lai (賴清德), and was scheduled to meet with National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) and Taiwan-Japan Relations Association chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) during its four-day visit to Taiwan.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS