President Ma Ying-jeou, together with Mrs. Ma, attended a
Spring Festival party hosted for the Diplomatic Corps by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs at the Grand Hotel on February 24. While there he delivered remarks to
the assembled guests.
The president said that during his campaign for the
presidency in 2007, he first brought up the idea of flexible diplomacy,
stressing that Taiwan must concurrently address cross-strait relations as well
as its external relations in order to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan
Strait.
President Ma said that soon after taking office in May 2008,
he sought to resume cross-strait negotiations that had been discontinued for 10
years, with the 1992 Consensus as a foundation. Under that consensus, the two
sides both came to accept the idea of "one China, respective interpretations."
Since then, he remarked, the two sides have signed 12 agreements and reached one
point of consensus, and bilateral relations have been improving step by step in
a climate of stability.
The warming of relations between Taiwan and mainland China,
he said, has not only resulted in greater security and peace in the Taiwan
Strait, but also has paved the way for greater space for Taiwan in the
international community. He particularly pointed out that the level of Taiwan's
Leader's Representative in the APEC Summit has been raised. Meanwhile, the ROC's
Minister of Health has been able to attend the World Health Assembly as an
observer. Also, the nation has joined the Agreement on Government Procurement
(GPA) under the World Trade Organization. He said he is very much pleased with
these breakthroughs, which come as the result of many years of hard work.
President Ma said that we have been promoting a policy of
flexible and aboveboard diplomacy to replace the scorched earth and checkbook
approaches adopted by the previous administration. He added that the ROC
embraces universal values such as democracy and humanitarianism in facing global
challenges. In May of last year, the president indicated, the government
released its White Paper on Foreign Aid Policy, which set forth that all foreign
assistance should be made with proper goals, through legal processes, and
carried out with effective administration. He said that in the future, the ROC
will adopt more professional and transparent methods in engaging in cooperation
with its friends and allies.
The president remarked that when the same event was held last
year, he mentioned the new mission and direction of the ROC's diplomatic work,
namely to guide Taiwan's economy towards a new "viable path" of growth and
expansion. For our diplomats in the future, he said, improving bilateral
economic, trade, cultural, and humanitarian contacts with our allies must be
made another part of their daily work. Especially, the president noted, our
entry into the GPA will create enormous business opportunities in Europe and the
United States, which are estimated to exceed US$900 billion. The president
expressed his hopes that personnel stationed overseas will provide more
information in this regard in order to enable local companies to take advantage
of these opportunities.
President Ma added that we are looking to transform Taiwan
into a regional springboard, a global center for innovation, an economic and
trade hub in the Asia-Pacific region, an operations headquarters for Taiwan
companies worldwide, and a regional headquarters for foreign companies. In this
regard, we hope to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with
mainland China, our largest trading partner, he said. This agreement on the one
hand will increase bilateral trade and protect Taiwan investments and
intellectual property rights, and will at the same time boost the willingness of
foreign companies to invest in Taiwan. Besides discussing the ECFA with mainland
China, the president said, we will also negotiate and sign free trade agreements
with other major trading partners, thereby preventing Taiwan from being shut out
of the process of economic integration within the Asia-Pacific region.
President Ma remarked that as President of the Republic of
China, he wants to make the country a responsible stakeholder in the
international community. That is to say, the ROC wants to become a peacemaker,
not a troublemaker; a developmental and humanitarian assistance provider, not an
unconcerned onlooker, he said. Only by acting as a responsible stakeholder can
Taiwan become a respectable member of the international community, he said,
adding that this is the goal of our foreign policy.
【Source: Office of the President】