ROC President Ma Ying-jeou thanked Seishiro Eto, deputy speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives, for his visit to Taiwan a year after the earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
Ma told a delegation of Japanese Diet members at the Presidential Office March 24 that the visit is clear testimony to the deep and friendly relations between the two nations.
When Eto came to Taiwan in May 2011, the first deputy speaker of the Japanese lower house of parliament to visit the country since the ROC and Japan ended formal diplomatic relations in 1972, he promised to return after the anniversary of the disaster to commemorate the bilateral friendship by planting trees, Ma said.
A man of his word, Eto will present 101 cherry trees representing Japan, and 101 flowering plums, the ROC national flower, in a memorial ceremony at Taichung Park to mark the 101st anniversary of the nation’s founding, the president noted.
Ma also introduced Liao Liou-yi, who took over last month as chairman of the Association of East Asian Relations, which handles Taipei’s relations with Tokyo, as well as Shen Ssu-tsun, the newly appointed top ROC representative to Japan.
Pointing out that Liao has deep ties to Japan and that Shen is an experienced senior diplomat, Ma said he believes the appointment of the two officials will help further deepen the already close relationship between the ROC and Japan.
Ma also noted that a record high of more than 1.29 million Japanese tourists visited Taiwan in 2011, surpassing the number of Taiwan tourists to Japan for the first time. He added, however, that the ROC government’s recent lifting of its travel warning for the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima would help lead to an increase in the number of Taiwanese traveling to Japan for holidays this year. (SB-THN)