Representative to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) at a National Day event in Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture yesterday said that he expected Taiwan-Japan relations to deepen under Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has continued former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s support for Taiwanese pineapples.
Lee thanked the Yamanashi Taiwan Association for hosting the event, in celebration of Taiwan’s Double Ten National Day, and said that Taiwan and the prefecture was deepening cooperation in economic, education and cultural fields.
Japan is Taiwan’s biggest market for pineapples, bananas and mangoes, while Taiwan buys the most Japanese apples and grapes, which shows the friendship between the two nations, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan
More than 90 percent of Taiwan’s pineapple and banana exports go to Japan, as well as 57 percent of its mangoes, Lee said.
Meanwhile, 77.5 percent of Japan’s apples, 58.6 percent of its grapes and 42.5 percent of its persimmons are exported to Taiwan, he said, adding that the nation was also the second-largest importer of Japanese peaches, strawberries and wagyu.
It is incredible that Taiwan so strongly supports Japanese products, despite having a population of only 23 million people and being the 57th-largest country in the world, Lee said.
The prefecture is known for its fruits, and its grapes and peaches are especially popular in Taiwan, he said.
This exchange deepens the friendship between Taiwan and Yamanashi, and supports both sides’ development, he added.
Lee thanked the citizens of Yamanashi for supporting disaster relief efforts in Hualien, after it was flooded last month.
Taiwan and the prefecture also cooperated on hydrogen energy technology, which helped support decarbonization, Lee said, adding that schools in Yamanashi have built sister school relationships with schools in Kaohsiung and Taichung, and organized exchanges between students.
Representatives of Mount Fuji and Jade Mountain (玉山) have even signed an agreement, he said.
Taiwan and Japan are strong partners that share mutual values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, Lee said.
Japan is Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner, while Taiwan is Japan’s fourth, and the two nations cooperate closely in investments and across industries, he said.
A record 7.36 million people traveled between Taiwan and Japan last year, and is expected to reach 8 million this year, he added.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS