Source: Huaxia Graticule
The picture shows Fukushima City offering a selection of shopping or souvenirs and places to eat. (From the website of the Fukushima Prefectural Tourism and Property Exchange Association in Japan)
In an exclusive interview with the BBC Chinese, Senator Masahisa Sato, president of the Foreign Ministry of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, talked about the Taiwan region's application to join the "Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnerships" (CPTPP, which Japan is still accustomed to calling TPP) issues, and bluntly said that whether the agricultural products of the five prefectures and cities of Fukushima that are currently in Kankan are open or not is a thorn in the throat between Japan and Taiwan, and "I hope that the sooner Taiwan opens up, the better."
According to Taiwan's China Times, Masahisa Sato was Japan's deputy minister of foreign affairs and is currently in charge of the Liberal Democratic Party's foreign affairs. Taiwan and Japan have held two "2+2 security dialogues", and Sato has participated in the meeting.
Masahisa Sato Image source Taiwan media
When talking about Taiwan's accession to the CPTPP, Sato said bluntly: "If we don't do it quickly, this is also the responsibility of the DPP, and it is the DPP authorities who have not clearly explained the problem to the people of Taiwan." If you want to join CPTPP, but you don't believe in objective scientific data, you are not eligible to join." Sato also warned that "if the mainland joins first, Taiwan will never have a chance" because the member states have the right to veto.
According to the latest statistics of economic and trade units, Taiwan's trade deficit with Japan has increased year by year, and even reached a new high this year, which will break the scale of 25 billion US dollars, which is converted into nearly 700 billion yuan (NT$, the same below), in the vernacular, that is, Japan earns 700 billion yuan from Taiwan every year.
If we examine taiwan-Japan trade by the threshold of the UNITED States' accusations of unfair trade, Japan has long been in line with unfair trade with Taiwan, and Masahisa Sato, president of the Foreign Ministry of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, has repeatedly reiterated that the issue of agricultural products in the five prefectures and cities of Kaguan-Fukushima is a "thorn" in the throat of the Trade between Japan and Taiwan. Based on Japan's national interests, it is understandable that Japanese politicians, including Sato and others, are pressuring Taiwan to open up Fukushima Foods.
However, although the US "Lai Pig" and Fukushima Food are both related to the issue of market opening, but the orange and citrus are very different, for the DPP authorities, "anti-Lai Pig" may be able to tell the Taiwan people that taiwan and the United States economic and trade relations, but do not swallow the agricultural products of Japan's 5 counties and cities in Fukushima, Taiwan still has many places to call japan.
Of course, Sato did not forget to "give sugar" after exerting pressure, and revealed to the DPP that after the first meeting of Taiwan and Japan in August, the embassies of Canada, New Zealand and Australia also came to be concerned, "quite interested in free trade cooperation with the Taiwan region", and this so-called follow-up "welfare" will also suppress the strength of taiwan's resistance. 【Comprehensive report of Huaxia Graticule】