Japan’s top representative to Taipei said Sunday that one of his priorities is to help Taiwan gain accession to a regional trade bloc in which his country is a founding member, as he believes it was the wish of the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Hiroyasu Izumi, head of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA) in Taipei, said he firmly believes that when Abe first came up with the idea of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), he wanted Taiwan to be part of it.
While the CPTPP was meant to serve as a trade and economic agreement among its regional members in the Pacific Rim, it was also founded with the political ideal of supporting freedom and democracy, Izumi said at a forum on Taiwan-Japan relations over the next 50 years.
Because of that ideal, Izumi said, one of his top priorities since he took office in 2019 as JTEA chief has been to help Taiwan join the CPTPP.
“To Taiwan, gaining access to the CPTPP is not simply about joining an international trade bloc but an important step to maintaining the status quo, which is supported by a majority of Taiwanese,” he said, citing a recent survey by National Chengchi University that showed 90 percent of Taiwanese support maintaining the status quo instead of declaring independence or uniting with mainland China.
Taiwan is on par with all the current CPTPP members, given its population, economic scale, and leading position in the global semiconductor industry, said Izumi, whose office represents Japanese interests in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties.
Japan and Taiwan complement each other in terms of economy and trade, and there is huge potential for the development of their bilateral relations in that regard, Izumi said in a keynote speech at the Taipei forum, which was held by a foundation named after late Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui (???).
The foundation had invited Abe to give the keynote address, but Izumi was asked fill in, after Abe was assassinated on July 8 at a campaign event in Japan’s Nara City.
Police subsequently arrested a 41-year-old male suspect, who had allegedly shot Abe with a homemade shotgun at the campaign event for the Diet’s upper house elections, which were held on July 10.
At the start of Sunday’s forum, a moment of silence was observed for Abe, who died at the age of 67, less than two years after he had resigned with a record as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.
Abe was seen as a vocal supporter of Taiwan, and he helped strengthen Japan-Taiwan relations during his tenure as prime minister and after leaving public office.
On July 11, national flags at all Taiwan government agencies and public schools were flown at half-mast in a show of mourning and respect for Abe.
Meanwhile, at the forum on Sunday, President Tsai Ing-wen (???) said Taiwan and Japan are each other’s third largest trading partner and have had close trade and economic ties for decades.
The two countries are “partners instead of competitors” in the global supply chain, Tsai said, adding that she is looking forward to their close cooperation on the world stage, based on their individual strengths.
Tsai also said that Taiwan has made all the necessary preparations to meet the high trade standards of the CPTPP, with the hope of gaining accession as soon as possible.
The CPTPP, which grew out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the United States left that pact in January 2017, is one of the world’s biggest trade blocs, representing a market of 500 million people and accounting for 13.5 percent of global trade.
Its 11 signatories are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
Taiwan applied on Sept. 22 last year to join the CPTPP — less than a week after China submitted its application.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel