The Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry Taipei (JCCI) issued its 2023 White Paper on October 6. NDC Minister Kung Ming-hsin received the White Paper on behalf of the government of Taiwan. JCCI praised the steady economic growth achieved by Taiwan during the pandemic and the rapid resolution of many issues in the 2022 White Paper; in particular, it affirmed the NDC’s coordination efforts that have allowed 80% of issues mentioned in the 2022 White Paper to be resolved or be under discussion, with the percentage of issues that have not been resolved down substantially from 32% to 18%.
The 2023 White Paper issued by JCCI has the theme of "Sharing the long-term vision of Taiwan-Japan cooperation and strengthening cooperative relations." It holds many valuable suggestions such as accelerating entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), deepening industrial cooperation, attracting outstanding talent, and optimizing the investment environment. Minister Kung pointed out that Taiwan is Japan’s fourth largest trading partner and Japan is Taiwan’s third largest trading partner. Total bilateral trade volume reached US$88.2 billion last year (2022), a record high. At the same time, according to Ministry of Economic Affairs figures, Japan’s investment in Taiwan last year also reached a record high. Facing the challenges of economic development and changes in the global market in the post-epidemic era, the government of Taiwan is actively promoting "digital transformation" and "net-zero transformation"; Japan shares our promotion direction. Taiwan and Japan have complementary industrial and economic advantages. There are huge business opportunities for cooperation in semiconductors, innovation, biotechnology and medicine, high-end manufacturing, green industry etc. JCCI, the government of Taiwan and the civil sector all support closer economic cooperation between Taiwan and Japan.
In terms of accelerating entry into CPTPP, Minister Kung thanked the Japanese government and JCCI for their support of Taiwan's application to join, and said that Taiwan has signed the first agreements under U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade with the United States in June this year. Taiwan is confident that may comply with the highest standards of international trade, and look forward to Taiwan and Japan signing a bilateral trade agreement at an early date to build more resilient and secure supply chains with an even more substantive economic and trade relationship.
As for the deepening of industrial cooperation, in recent years, Taiwan and Japan have not only enhanced R&D of the semiconductor supply chain, but also continued to expand cooperation in the fields of high-end manufacturing, biotech medicine, and startups. In addition, in response to the carbon reduction trend, to achieve the policy goal of 2050 net-zero emissions announced by President Tsai in 2021, the government has proposed the Taiwan’s Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050 and 12 Key Strategies in the past two years. This year, the Climate Change Response Act was passed and the Taiwan Carbon Solution Exchange (TCX) was established. Up to 2030, the government will invest NT$900 billion in the field of carbon reduction, and plans to promote private investment of NT$4 trillion. It is hoped that Taiwan and Japan can have technical cooperation in hydrogenic energy, carbon capture, recycling, energy-saving systems and other fields to jointly advanced the development of green industry.
The government of Taiwan has actively responded to JCCI 's concerns about stable water and electricity supply and other infrastructure, including formulating the Master Plan of Water Resources Management in Taiwan to improve water supply capability and promoting the use of recycled water and seawater, and implementing flexible dispatch and management of water resources and backup. It also put forward the Strengthening Power Grid Resilience Construction Plan, and will invest NT$564.5 billion over 10 years to disperse and strengthen the power grid to ensure stable power supply; it is also actively developing renewable energy-related industries, building high-quality offshore wind power harbor infrastructure to facilitate the next stage of wind farm development.
In the area of attracting outstanding talent to alleviate the talent gap in industry, directed at the 5+2 Innovative Industries Program and Six Core Strategic Industries, as well as key service industries, by the end of August this year the number of valid employment permits for foreign professionals had reached 55,371, and the accumulated number of foreign special professional permits had reached 12,302, with 8,121 Employment Gold Cards issued. The government has also promoted talent recruitment plans for various industries and is planning to establish a Talent Taiwan service center with dedicated personnel to build a friendly working and living environment for foreigners. Also, in terms of domestic talent cultivation, 12 research institutes have been established in key industrial fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, circular economy and international finance to speed up the cultivation of high-level talent industry needs.
Echoing the suggestion in the 2023 White Paper to "Sharing the long-term vision of Taiwan-Japan cooperation and strengthening cooperative relations," Minister Kung thanked JCCI for its long-term cultivation efforts in Taiwan and express the hope that Taiwan and Japan will continue to enhance their industrial, economic and trade partnerships to jointly grasp the global new opportunities for economic development and transformation.
Contact person: Department of Regulatory Reform Director General Yang, Shu-Ling
Contact Number: （02）2316-5929