TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) called for continued Japanese support for Taiwan, during a meeting with the head of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Associate’s Taipei office, Katayama Kazuyuki, on Wednesday (Dec. 13).
“We hope that in the future, with the support of Chief Representative Katayama, Taiwan, and Japan will continue to deepen our economic and trade partnership and work together to contribute to the prosperity and development of the Indo-Pacific region,” Tsai said.
She also mentioned Taiwan’s desire to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and other related organizations, according to an Overseas Community Affairs Council press release.
Tsai lauded the common values of freedom and democracy and said the two nations share a mission to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. She thanked the Japanese government for its “firm support of peace across the Taiwan Strait” in the form of joint statements, including at the G7 foreign ministers' meeting and the Japan-U.K. foreign and defense ministerial meeting in November.
Japan reiterated the importance of peace across the Taiwan Strait to global and regional stability on multiple occasions, she said.
Katayama said that Taiwan and Japan are important partners who share the common values of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. He said that the two countries have developed very friendly relations in the process of addressing natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a “virtuous cycle.”
This is all thanks to the efforts of Tsai and the Taiwanese, he said.
Katayama also said that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are extremely important to Taiwan and the international community, including Japan. He pledged to work hard to help Taiwanese and Japanese understand each other's importance while continuing to promote exchanges across multiple areas, including economic, cultural, academic, and personnel.