President Ma Ying-jeou arrived at Las Americas International Airport in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo at 2:45 p.m. on July 12 local time (2:45 a.m. July 13 Taipei time), marking the first stop in the Caribbean on his trip, codenamed the Forever Rising Project, to visit three diplomatic allies in the region.
After the chartered plane came to a halt on the tarmac, ROC Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Thomas Ping-Fu Hou (侯平福) and the Dominican Republic's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director of Protocol Pedro Gomez boarded the aircraft to welcome President Ma. Dominican Republic Minister of Foreign Relations Andres Navarro Garcia was also at the door to the plane, waiting to welcome the president and accompany him along a red carpet flanked by a military honor guard, thus extending a cordial welcome to the ROC delegation.
After leaving the airport, President Ma visited the Journey of Hope (Camino de Esperanza), a community center for children in San Luis that was built thanks to a donation of US$200,000 by Mr. Frank Lee (李欽福), an overseas compatriot living in the United States. President Ma was greeted by Dominican Republic Senate President Cristina Lizardo Mezquita upon his arrival. Local children, together with residents of the community, welcomed President Ma by waving flags of both countries and shouting "I love Taiwan" and "Welcome President Ma" in a display of hospitality and friendliness.
President Ma was escorted by Senate President Lizardo inside to tour the arts and crafts classrooms as well as the computer lab. They also visited the multipurpose classroom where they listened to a youth orchestra perform. The mayor of San Luis then presented President Ma with a key to the city in a gesture of appreciation for the ROC's assistance to the Dominican Republic.
As baseball is extremely popular in the Dominican Republic, President Ma presented baseball gear to young players, and after changing into a baseball jersey played catch with them. In a gesture to show their concern and offer their prayers for the nearly 200 young people who were injured in the recent powder explosion incident at the Formosa Fun Coast water park in northern Taiwan, the children presented the president with a banner that was signed by many senators from the Dominican Republic, the governor of Santo Domingo Province, and the players in the province's baseball league in a concrete expression of the deep friendship between the people of the two countries.
In the evening, the president held a banquet for representatives of the overseas compatriot community residing in the Dominican Republic where he expressed his gratitude for the concern that they have shown for the victims of the powder explosion.
Discussing relations between the ROC and the Dominican Republic, President Ma remarked that longstanding bilateral cooperation has yielded impressive achievements. For instance, Dr. Yin-Tieh Hsieh (謝英鐸), who is known as "the father of rice in the Dominican Republic," was dispatched to the Taiwan Agricultural Technical Mission in the Dominican Republic back in 1965, striving to improve and develop varieties of rice suited to that nation. To date, Dr. Hsieh is responsible for developing 85% of the rice seed used in the Dominican Republic and his efforts enabled the nation to become self-sufficient in rice output starting in 2000, following which it even began to export rice in 2003. In addition, Dr. Hsieh introduced bamboo to the Dominican Republic. The nation's first bamboo furniture and handicrafts center was established in Bonao, and young people there were taught how to make bamboo products. At the same time, Dr. Hsieh established a white shrimp and tilapia breeding center in Azua, where he passed along aquaculture technology to locals, making him widely admired and the "pride of Taiwan."
The president then talked about the ROC's political and economic developments in recent years. He said that over the past seven years the government has strived to promote a "prosperous Taiwan, peaceful Taiwan Strait, and friendly international relations" policy, which to date has created greater space for the ROC in the international community and alleviated tension in cross-strait relations. Even more important, he said, is that the government has developed a set of strategies that can resolve problems. In other words, the ROC has sought, under the framework of the ROC Constitution, to maintain the status quo of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force" in the Taiwan Strait, and to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait ties under the 1992 Consensus, whereby each side acknowledges the existence of "one China" but maintains its own interpretation of what that means. The president believes that the ROC understands the core of the issue and that the strategies and methods it has formulated can achieve the goal of developing cross-strait peace and prosperity.
The president specifically pointed out the results generated by an improvement in cross-strait relations. During the August 23 Artillery War of 1958 in Kinmen, over 470,000 shells fell on the island, and at that time over 100,000 ROC troops were stationed there. Today, however, the military presence has been reduced significantly and hundreds of thousands of mainland Chinese tourists have visited the island, he said.
President Ma emphasized that the improvement in cross-strait relations has also led to an enhancement of ties between the ROC and the international community. Since 2009, for instance, the ROC has attended the World Health Assembly for seven consecutive years after a hiatus of 38 years. Taiwan has thus been able to bolster its contacts with health-related agencies throughout the world, and its status in this field has been bolstered considerably, he said. Meanwhile, after an absence of 42 years, the ROC in 2013 attended an assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Both of these are substantive results of the government's efforts in this regard, said the president.
President Ma believes that the success of the ROC's "viable diplomacy" policy is closely related to the improvement in cross-strait relations. He said that two days ago in Boston, Massachusetts he engaged in discussions with several renowned American academics, during which one scholar stated that smooth cross-strait relations have been constructive to the development of Taiwan-US relations.
President Ma told the overseas compatriots at the banquet that earlier in the day in an interview with the international media, one journalist asked him whether a victory by the opposition candidate in next year's presidential election would result in challenges to the ROC in pursuing its diplomatic agenda, and whether this would have an impact on the Dominican Republic. The president remarked that he responded by saying that this was the first time that he'd heard the international media express such interest in political developments in the ROC. President Ma said he believes that regardless of which party's candidate is elected, cross-strait relations won't face problems so long as the new president abides by the cross-strait policies and strategies currently promoted by his administration.
The president also commented on the ROC's achievements in international relations in recent years, particularly pointing to the number of countries and areas that provide ROC nationals with visa-free courtesies or landing visas, which has risen from 54 when he took office in 2008 to 142 now, an increase of 88. In addition to the efforts of its diplomatic personnel, the improvement in cross-strait relations has also been a major factor in advances in ROC foreign relations, so while interference by mainland China still exists in the international community, it has decreased on certain fronts, he said. In summary, the ROC's improvements in its relations with mainland China and the international community are both the result of work carried out by the government, the president stated.
President Ma then mentioned the state of Taiwan's economy, commenting that it has been relatively weak, with growth under 3% during the roughly three years of his second term. However, in 2014 Taiwan's economic growth hit 3.74%, giving Taiwan the highest growth rate among Asia's four little tigers for the first time in 16 years. This, the president said, shows that the work carried out over the past three years is gradually helping Taiwan emerge from a period of slow growth.
As for the slowdown in exports in the first half of this year, President Ma stated that he called Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) at around 5 a.m. on July 13 local time to discuss the issue. The premier told him that in the next week or two related government agencies will meet with scholars and experts to jointly draft a roadmap to improve the situation. Given that Taiwan relies on external trade for 70% of its economic growth, the government will spare no effort in addressing this issue, he said.
Upon completing his remarks, the president lifted his glass in a toast to those attending the gathering. Singers from the Dominican Republic also sang the Taiwanese melody No Win Without A Fight (愛拼才會贏), which added to the festivities.
Among those attending the banquet were National Security Council Secretary-General Kao Hua-chu (高華柱), Minister of Foreign Affairs David Y. L. Lin (林永樂), Minister of Economic Affairs John C. C. Deng (鄧振中), Minister of the Overseas Community Affairs Council Steven S. K. Chen (陳士魁), ROC Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Hou, China Community Center (Centro de la Colonia China, INC) President Su King Fung (馮賜權), and Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic (Camara de Comercio de Taiwan en la Republica Dominicana) President Xue Chuangren (薛創仁).