President Ma Ying-jeou, accompanied by Vice President Vincent C. Siew, held a reception on the evening of June 29 at the Presidential Office Building for the heads of the ROC's five branches of government, their deputies, and the secretary generals of the organizations. The government leaders exchanged opinions on a broad range of issues including judicial reform, economic development, cross-strait relations and space for the ROC in the international arena, and social justice.
The president commented that US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius convened a press conference during this year's World Health Assembly and stated that no United Nations-affiliated organization can unilaterally decide Taiwan's status. The president stated that this is the strongest stance taken by the United States in this regard in many years. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the ROC leaving the United Nations (UN). When UN Resolution 2758 was initially passed, it only addressed the issue of a representative from mainland China taking the place of the representative from Taiwan. This resolution did not address the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China, he said. Consequently, the World Health Organization's reference to us as "Taiwan, China" in internal documents has nothing to do with Resolution 2758, he explained, adding that the remarks made by Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius are quite accurate. In fact, he said, each nation that has established relations with mainland China has a slightly different view on this issue, which is why there are six or seven different formats of communiques on the establishment of diplomatic ties between the mainland and other countries.
President Ma expressed his belief that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should be able to peacefully coexist and forge mutual prosperity. He noted that earlier in the day he met with Dr. William Perry, who served as US Secretary of Defense at the time of the crisis in the Taiwan Strait in 1996. He told Dr. Perry that the efforts made by the Taiwan government over the past three years have not only yielded peace in the region, but have also helped promote world peace. We hope to continue with this policy, he said. Consequently, the government will continue to abide by the principle of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force," and use the "1992 Consensus" that centers on the concept "one China, respective interpretations" as the basis to continue to forge progress in cross-strait relations. The president also mentioned that Taiwan and mainland China are in negotiations on an investment guarantee agreement and nuclear power safety, and said he hopes for progress on these fronts in the next month or two, as both issues are extremely important to the well-being of the people of Taiwan.
【Source: Office of the President】