Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) yesterday paid a visit to Toshimitsu Motegi, secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, at the party’s headquarters in Tokyo.
Speaking during the meeting, Motegi said Taiwan is an extremely important partner to Japan and a precious friend with shared values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, adding that the two countries have close economic relationships and regular personnel exchanges.
Motegi said while he was serving as Japan’s foreign minister in 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic was bringing suffering to people all over the world, and that he is still grateful to Taiwan for its donation of 2 million masks and various medical resources to Japan at that time.
Photo: AFP
Japan also donated around 4.2 million doses of COVID- 19 vaccines to Taiwan, he said, adding that around the same time he also received a warm letter from Cheng expressing his hope that the Japanese people were managing to cope with the challenging situation.
Cheng expressed gratitude to Japan for its donation of the 4.2 million vaccine doses, pointing out that the figure accounts for about 20 percent of Taiwan’s population.
Cheng added that Taiwan and Japan have shared values and extremely close trade ties, and also face common geopolitical challenges.
Most importantly, the two countries have a shared vision, he said, saying that at the recently concluded G7 summit in Hiroshima, the world’s wealthiest democracies laid out a strategy of "de-risking, not de-coupling" from China.
"De-risking" refers to reducing reliance on China’s supply chains, without completely isolating it.
Yesterday afternoon, Cheng also visited contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s 3DIC R&D Center in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Cheng is currently leading a delegation of economics officials on a visit to Tokyo from Monday till today to conduct exchanges in energy, net-zero emissions and fifth generation wireless cellular technology.
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