A Taoyuan-based manufacturer donated 100,000 face masks to Tokyo on Monday through Taiwan’s representative office there to thank the Japanese government for its recent donations of COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan.

The masks were presented at a ceremony on behalf of Yi-Ting Non-woven Co. by Taiwan’s representative to Japan, Frank Hsieh (???), to Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo.

It was the second donation made by the face mask manufacturer after donating 1.24 million face masks to Japan in September.

The masks were packed in cardboard boxes labeled “Japan-Taiwan Friendship, Japan Thank You!”

Whenever there is a disaster, whether it is in Taiwan or Japan, the two sides will always try and help each other, thereby forming a “virtuous cycle,” Hsieh said.

One such example was after the major earthquake that struck Nantou County in 1999. Japan donated 1,000 prefabricated housing units to Taiwan for earthquake survivors, thanks in part to the assistance of Koike, who was a parliamentarian at the time, he said.

Also when former President Lee Teng-hui (???) died last year, Koike personally visited Taiwan’s representative office in Tokyo to express her condolences, Hsieh said.

Meanwhile, he also thanked Koike and Tokyo for providing COVID-19 vaccinations to his entire staff at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan this summer.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel