President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday conferred a presidential award on Mitsuo Ohashi, former chair of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA), in recognition of his contributions to Taiwan-Japan relations.
During a ceremony in Taipei, Lai presented the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon to Ohashi, who led the JTEA for 14 years, praising him as “a model of Taiwan- Japan friendship,” according to a Presidential Office news release.
The president thanked Ohashi for his unwavering dedication to promoting bilateral ties, noting that during his tenure, Taipei and Tokyo had signed over 50 agreements on trade and economics, fisheries and taxation.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office via CNA
He also credited Ohashi’s efforts with helping institutionalize Taiwan-Japan ties, notably through the 2017 renaming of the JTEA and its Taiwanese counterpart, the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, to include the word “Taiwan.”
Looking ahead, Lai expressed hope that Taiwan and Japan would further strengthen their relations by accelerating talks on an economic partnership agreement and collaborating in key sectors such as semiconductors, energy and artificial intelligence.
In his remarks, Ohashi said he is proud of the close ties between Taiwan and Japan, particularly in the midst of growing international geopolitical tensions, according to the news release.
Ohashi, who was on a short visit to Taiwan on Thursday and Friday, said he would continue to promote peace in his role as head of the Japan branch of the World Federalist Movement, an organization dedicated to advancing global cooperation and democratic governance.
Ohashi was succeeded by Shuzo Sumi, the former head of Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc., as the JTEA chair -- a primarily ceremonial role -- on June 20.
The JTEA is headquartered in Tokyo and has offices in Taipei and Kaohsiung. Its Taipei office functions as the de facto Japanese embassy in Taiwan, and its current representative is Kazuyuki Katayama.
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
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS