President 
Lai Ching-te called for expanded semiconductor cooperation with Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture on September 7, receiving a delegation from the prefecture's Japan-ROC Friendship Association at the Presidential Office. Lai said Taiwan's strengths in semiconductor and AI manufacturing, combined with Kanagawa's research and precision-manufacturing capabilities, would allow the two sides to build a safer and more resilient "non-red" supply chain, CNA reported.
What did Lai say about economic ties? Taiwan and Japan are important trade partners whose two-way trade reached US$84.851 billion last year, up 17.36 percent, Lai said. He added, in remarks CNA reported, that TSMC has set up a design center in Kanagawa, that ASE is among 13 Taiwanese companies operating in the prefecture, and that 78 Kanagawa companies including Nissan have invested in Taiwan. Calling TSMC the world's most important company in advanced chip processes and ASE the most important in packaging and testing, he said their investment in Kanagawa showed how close Taiwan and the prefecture have become. He also described a deep friendship between Taiwan and Japan proven in hard times, likening it to family ties.
What did the delegation propose? Kenji Nakanishi, chairman of the association, which marks its 60th anniversary in November, said through an interpreter that he has led a group to Taiwan every year and brought 60 members this time. He said the group had visited Beitou's hot springs the previous week, meeting the local hot spring tourism association and Taipei City Government officials, and that he hopes to pair Kanagawa's Hakone hot springs with Beitou as sister springs and sign a memorandum of understanding on it. He said he looks forward to Taiwan's participation in the international horticultural expo Yokohama hosts next March, an event Lai said he hoped would widen exchanges in green energy, sustainability and urban tourism.
What else did Nakanishi raise? Nakanishi said Japan, which suffers frequent disasters, received large and warm support from Taiwan after the strong Kumamoto earthquake, and that TSMC's arrival has helped lift the economies of Kyushu and Japan as a whole. The delegation had called that morning on Frank Hsieh, chairman of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, whose description of Taiwan and Japan as a community of shared destiny he said he strongly agreed with. Beyond AI and semiconductors, he said he hoped ties would deepen in fields such as space or quantum technology, with disaster prevention still offering wide room for cooperation, CNA reported.
Figures referenced: Lai Ching-te. — JudgeMarket.
