Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung received a delegation from Japan’s Diet led by Taro Kono, member of the House of Representatives and former minister for foreign affairs, Dec. 24 in Taipei City.
Lin said Taiwan and Japan have a close relationship, and thanked Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her predecessors for stressing the importance of cross-strait peace and stability in the international arena. He added that Takaichi’s identification of 17 strategic sectors is similar to the Five Trusted Industry Sectors initiative proposed by President Lai Ching-te, and there is potential to expand bilateral cooperation in the highlighted fields.
Kono said in response that he is pleased to see an increase in people-to-people exchanges between the two sides and shared that the number of Taiwanese tourists visiting Japan this year topped last year’s count of 6 million with a month still to go. He added that Taiwan’s decision to lift import controls on food from Fukushima and surrounding prefectures will further facilitate bilateral trade collaboration.
The delegation was also received by Premier Cho Jung-tai on the same day. Cho said Taiwan and Japan always support each other in time in need, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons.
The two sides also cooperate on economic security, technology and regional peace, the premier said, giving as examples an optical wavelength network set to be established by the National Center for High-Performance Computing, Chunghwa Telecom Co. and Japan’s NTT Inc., as well as a digital trade cooperation agreement and a memorandum of understanding on regional customs cooperation inked earlier this month.
Cho concluded by mentioning that the total trade volume between Taiwan and Japan exceeded US$76.7 billion at the end of November, and pledged to continue promoting bilateral digital technology collaboration and jointly maintaining peace in the Indo-Pacific. (YCH-E)
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