【Photo Diary】(1) Visit to Taiwan to Attend Inauguration Ceremony of President Lai Ching-te
Published on June 26, 2024
I would like to share with you some of the photographs taken during my visit to Taiwan from May 18 to 21, 2024, as chairman of The Nippon Foundation to attend the inauguration ceremony of Mr. Lai Ching-te as Taiwan’s fifth directly elected president.
He was sworn in as president on May 20, marking the start of a historic third consecutive term for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
During my stay in the capital Taipei and Tainan, southern Taiwan, I also talked separately with the new president and three of his predecessors－Ms. Tsai Ing-wen and Mr. Chen Shui-bian of DPP and Mr. Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) party－as well as other government and business leaders.
[May 18, Taipei]
[May 19, Taipei and Tainan]
I told her that I was honored and pleased to meet her on the final day of her administration, commending her leadership as president during the last eight years, which I said deepened the Japanese government and people’s understanding of the democratic system in Taiwan.
I invited her to visit Japan, hopefully this autumn. She did not directly respond, but said she wants to go to Japan more often, as she did before becoming president.
I told him he looked in good shape and that I had enjoyed taking a Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) train for the first time. The THSR started operation in 2007 when Mr. Chen was in office, using Shinkansen technology that was exported from Japan for the first time.
(To be continued)