Taiwan and Japan to sign more agreements after fishing pact

Taiwan and Japan will sign agreements covering e-commerce and patents in Taipei on Tuesday, in another sign of their closer ties, following a pact over fishing rights in disputed East China Sea waters, officials said.

The five agreements to be signed also include pharmaceutical codes, railway cooperation and maritime and airborne search and rescue.

“They will certainly further broaden and consolidate the ties with Japan,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Kao said on Sunday.

The Japanese filed more than 10,000 patent applications with Taiwanese authorities each year, compared with around 3,000 patent applications Taiwan sought with Japan, government figures showed.

But Kao would not comment on local media reports which saw the accords as a prelude to a tax and economic cooperation agreement.

Taiwan and Japan forged a much-anticipated agreement in April, under which Taiwanese trawlers will be permitted to fish in waters off East China Sea islands controlled by Tokyo as the Senkakus but claimed by China and Taiwan as the Diaoyus.