President Ma also addressed cross-strait relations, saying that since taking office in 2008, he has been dedicated to peaceful development and interaction with mainland China. In the almost seven years since then, the two sides have signed 21 agreements, and mainland Chinese have made a total of 14 million visits to Taiwan, with almost four million making the trek in 2014 alone. The number of mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwan has increased by a factor of 40, rising from just 823 before President Ma's first term to over 32,000 now. Last year the ministers in charge of cross-strait affairs from the two sides also began to hold regularly scheduled meetings, addressing each other using their official titles and establishing an institutionalized communication mechanism. So in the past 66 years, cross-strait relations have never been this stable, and this peaceful.
President Ma mentioned that in August of 2012 he proposed the East China Sea Peace Initiative, calling on all parties to peacefully resolve territorial disputes in the East China Sea based on international law. In April of 2013 the ROC and Japan signed a fisheries agreement that effectively resolved a 40-year fisheries dispute. As a result, catches by crews from both countries increased, and the number of fishing disputes between the two countries dropped from 17 in the year prior to the signing of the agreement to the present none. Last year the People to People International organization also conferred the Eisenhower Medallion on President Ma to acknowledge the ROC's contributions to peace in the East China Sea. Within the mutually overlapping economic zones, the ROC and Philippine governments reached three points of consensus, agreeing to refrain from using force in law enforcement actions, to notify each other prior to such actions, and to promptly release detained fishing vessels and crews in case of arrest. This effectively reduced the number of maritime law enforcement disputes between the two parties.
President Ma called attention to a resolution on EU-China relations adopted by the European Parliament on March 14, 2013 that acknowledged the spirit of Taiwan's East China Sea Peace Initiative. In March of this year the European Parliament also passed a resolution on European Union foreign affairs and security policy, in which it stresses the importance of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific Region. This accords with the concept underlying the East China Sea Peace Initiative that although sovereignty over national territory cannot be compromised, natural resources can be shared. So the current administration's efforts to promote regional peace have clearly garnered broad international acclaim.
【Source: Office of the President】