The Legislative Yuan

Press Release

May 4, 2023

President You meets Japanese former House of Councilors President Santo Akiko and her delegation

 You Si-kun: Grateful for Japan’s support of Taiwan’s participation in international organizations

Accompanied by Legislators Chiu Yi-ying, Su Chiao-hui, Hsieh Yi-fong, Lai Hsiang-ling, Chen Jiau-hua, Secretary General Lin Jih-jia, Consultant Cho Ya-shu, Secretariat Director Kung Ping-chieh, President You President You met with a delegation led by former Japanese House of Councilors President Santo Akiko, Japanese House of Councilors Members Funayama Yasue, House of Representatives Member Shimajiri Aiko, House of Councilors Member Imai Eriko, Secretary Kawata Shoko, Director Kakizawa Michi, and Director Takigawa Hiroshi of Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Taipei Office on the afternoon of May 4.

On behalf of the Legislative Yuan, President extended a warm welcome to the delegation. He was delighted to have the opportunity to have in-depth exchange between woman politicians between Taiwan and Japan. President You expressed his utmost respect to House of Councilors Member Santo Akiko for her help when she was still serving as president of the House of Councilors on June 11, 2021to facilitate the unanimous passage of a resolution supporting Taiwan’s participation in World Health Organization and requested the Japanese government and countries to ensure Taiwan’s participation in World Health Assembly.

President You continued to state that according to the statistics of parliamentary alliance of different countries, as of March 2022, the percentage of global woman parliamentarians reached a historical new high of 26.1%. From Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, US first female Vice President Harris Kamala to Finland’s female Prime Minister Sanna Mirella Marin, the rise of woman’s power is encouraging. In Japan’s local elections on April 9 this year, women accounted for 316 seats among a total of 2,260 seats, an all-time high. All these facts demonstrated the increasing number and improving environment for women’s participation. Taiwan’s woman national legislators account for 42.47%, the first in Asia. President You hoped women parliamentarians of both sides to engage in more exchanges to deepen friendship.

President You thanked the Japanese House of Councilors for passing a resolution in support of Taiwan’s participation in World Health Organization and underscored Taiwan’s continued efforts to strive for participation in international organizations, such as WHO, ICAO and UNFCCC and early accession to regional economic and trade cooperation mechanism such as CPTPP and asked for Japan’s continued assistance.

President You stated that on April 16 this year, G7 Foreign Ministers’ Statement chaired by Japan reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait to international community and supported Taiwan’s participation in international organizations as a full member, observer or special guest. Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa in the press conference stated that G7 strongly oppose any unilateral change of status quo in every corner of world. President You expressed his heartfelt appreciation to Japan’s staunch support once again.

In her remarks, House of Councilors Member Santo Akiko expressed her hope to engage in exchanges with President You and Taiwan’s women legislators. She pointed out that Japanese women cared more about issues related with social welfare and raising children compared with that of national defense and others. However, the world situation had a drastic change, including Russia-Ukraine War, North Korea’s launch of missiles, Therefore, Japanese women parliamentarians have increasing concern on security issues related with Taiwan Strait and others. Because of the rapid change of the international situation, women’s parliamentarians play a even more critical role than ever. Through their exchanges and dialogues, they will make contributions to world and regional peace. Taiwan and Japan have long enjoyed historical bond. Both countries have rendered each other mutual support. As Taiwan’s friend, Japan hopes to continue to make contribution to world peace with Taiwan.

She continued to state that she was first elected to the House of Councilors 49 years ago when there were only 17 women parliamentarians. Today, there are 48 women out of a total of 465 House of Representatives members, accounting for about 10%, and 66 women among a total of House of Councilors members, accounting for about 26%. However, compared with other countries, Japanese women parliamentarian percentage is still relatively low. In addition to political arena, there is an increasing number of outstanding women leaders in the Japanese business sector. She believed that men should provide more assistance in raising children in order to encourage more women’s political participation. In this way, women can have a peace of mind in engaging in politics. She also believed that improving women’s economic condition will provide more incentives for women’s political participation. She thought that there is an ample for further improvement in encouraging more women’s political participation. In the future, she hoped to utilize the delicate side of women to continue to obtain this goal. In conclusion, she thanked President You once again for his warm hospitality. She hoped there will be more exchanges for women parliamentarians to express their opinions on more issues.

Both sides exchanged gifts after delivering remarks and posed for photos. Then they proceed to the banquet hall for luncheon. Both sides exchanged views on various issues and the luncheon concluded at 2 p.m.