Taiwan and Japan are working together to safeguard peace and stability and bring prosperity to the Indo-Pacific, Vice President William Lai (賴清德) told a delegation led by Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Youth Division director Norikazu Suzuki yesterday.
Suzuki, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, is leading a 65-person LDP delegation comprising members of the Japanese Diet, local representatives and university students on a four-day visit to Taiwan until Wednesday.
Lai welcomed the delegation at the Presidential Office yesterday, saying he was happy to see that the Youth Division has close ties with Taiwan, as its members are Japan’s hope for the future.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan and Japan not only enjoy good relations in tourism but also in trade — Taiwan is Japan’s fourth-largest trading partner and Japan is Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner, with total bilateral trade reaching a record US$88.2 billion last year, he said.
The relationship between Taiwan and Japan is “a true friendship” based on universal values such as democracy and human rights, Suzuki said.
Japan sees Taiwan as a very important partner, he said, adding that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are closely linked to the peace and stability of Japan and the international community.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
The Youth Division constantly thinks about what actions it can take to promote peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, he added.
Suzuki said he hopes to take the friendship between Taiwan and Japan to another level in many different fields based on the good foundation that has been built.
Separately, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday told the delegation that changing Taiwan’s political culture has always been his goal.
Photo: Huang Chin-hsuan, Taipei Times
He told Suzuki that he wanted to run for president during a meeting in Taipei in May last year.
Yesterday, Ko said that “as a politician, it is important to walk the talk,” the TPP said in a news release, adding that Suzuki said Ko’s practice-what-you-preach spirit is worth learning from.
Ko shared his thoughts on the challenges Taiwan’s democracy is facing, saying that there have been no major construction plans in Taiwan since 2000 as all efforts have focused on elections, the party said.
Taiwanese politicians seldom mention policies during their campaigns, but instead focus on attacking their opponents, Ko said.
He said he hopes to create a government that values public participation, openness and transparency and sustainable prosperity.
The delegation also met with New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, at the New Taipei City Central Emergency Operations Center yesterday.
The city has maintained substantive cooperation in disaster prevention with Japan, such as by signing a mutual support agreement on disaster prevention with Kanagawa Prefecture in 2016, Hou said.
The city established its Youth Department last year and hopes to engage in more exchanges with the LDP Youth Division, Hou said.
The delegation could learn more about the center’s operations and its emergency data platform during the visit, he added.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to