Taiwan Presents Disaster Relief Donation to Japan

July 13, 2018

Tokyo- A disaster relief donation of 20 million yen was presented to Japan from Taiwan at a ceremony in Tokyo on Thursday after massive flooding and landslides hit wide areas of western Japan.

At the ceremony, Frank Hsieh, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, presented the certificate of the donation to Yasuaki Tanizaki, head of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association.

Hsieh is Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Japan amid the lack of diplomatic ties between the two sides.

Hsieh said Taiwan hopes the donation will help promote reconstruction in the disaster-hit areas, noting that Taiwan and Japan have traditionally helped each other during times of natural disasters.

Tanizaki, while appreciating the donation and kind messages from Taiwanese people, expressed hopes for an early recovery from the disaster.

The relief money will be used to support disaster-hit areas through the Japanese Red Cross Society.

Taiwan gave Japan disaster relief funds of over 20 billion yen, one of the largest from abroad, after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan. Japan provided support to Taiwan on occasions such as an earthquake in 2016.

The utmost goal of exchanges is to help each other when the chips are down, and Japan and Taiwan reached that level, Hsieh told reporters after the ceremony. Jiji Press