Taiwan and Japan yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding to promote cooperation on issues between the customs offices of the Port of Keelung and Yokohama.
Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi signed the nonbinding agreement on behalf of their governments at the 47th annual Taiwan-Japan Economic and Trade Conference in Taipei.
The government-funded associations are charged with handling Taiwanese affairs in Japan and Japanese affairs in Taiwan respectively in the absence of official diplomatic relations.
Photo courtesy of Port of Keelung Taiwan International Ports Corp
Keelung Customs Office head Chen Shih-feng (陳世鋒) said that the memorandum would facilitate cooperation between the two sides and streamline customs clearance processes.
The countries also agreed to cooperate on combating trafficking and smuggling, sharing intelligence and addressing tariff issues, Chen said.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Su said that Taiwan and Japan have made great strides on bilateral economic and trade cooperation in the past few years.
He reiterated the government’s call in asking Japan to support Taiwan’s bid to gain accession to the Tokyo-led Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Meanwhile, Ohashi said he was happy to see the annual conference return to Taipei for the first time in five years.
The last time the meeting was held in Taipei was in 2018. It was last year and early this year held in Tokyo after not being organized from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He praised bilateral trade relations as “thriving” over the past few years, with two-way trade volume reaching a historical high of US$88.2 billion last year.
Ohashi said he hopes that the annual meeting, which has been held since 1976 and serves as an important communications platform, would continue to make contributions to the economic and trade ties between Tokyo and Taipei.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
RSS