President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of February 27 with Ms. Judith Fox-Alder, International Director of Canada's Terry Fox Foundation. In addition to welcoming Ms. Fox-Alder to Taiwan, the president also recognized the increasingly close ties between Taiwan and Canada.
In remarks, President Ma first expressed his gratitude to Ms. Fox-Alder for sharing her brother's story in Taiwan. Terry Fox was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 18 and subsequently had to have his leg amputated above the knee. Nonetheless, he did not lose his spirit, and instead decided to continue to pursue his love for running using a prosthesis. Terry Fox, the president stated, ultimately completed a run of more than 5,000 kilometers across Canada, covering an average of 43 kilometers a day for 143 days. His bone cancer, however, spread to his lungs and he unfortunately passed away in June 1981. The story of Terry Fox, however, was one of the last century's most moving examples of a person's struggle, he commented.
President Ma further stated that since 1995 he has participated in the Terry Fox Run 12 times and even served as the director of the event's organizing committee. He pointed out that when he served as Taipei City mayor, the scale of the annual run and the amount raised locally were the sixth and seventh highest in the world, which highlights the efforts made by the government to promote this activity. The president also said that in 2003 when he was still serving as Taipei mayor, he made a visit to the Toronto office of the Terry Fox Foundation, making him the first mayor to visit that organization.
President Ma then expressed his appreciation to Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chair John Weston for his longstanding promotion of relations between the two countries. MP Weston also urged Taiwan to resume holding the Terry Fox Run activity as soon as possible. The president said that thanks to the support of University of Taipei President Tai Hsia-Ling (戴遐齡), it is certain that the run will be started again in Taiwan. President Ma commented this will help promote ties between people of the two countries.
As for Taiwan-Canada economic and trade ties, the president said, bilateral trade over the past two years has reached US$6 billion annually, and Taiwan is Canada's 14th largest trading partner in the world and fourth largest in Asia. At the same time, Taiwan recently decided that it would open its doors to imports of bone-in beef from Canada, which will provide a further boost to trade cooperation between the two countries, he stated.
President Ma noted that after the presidential elections here in 2008 and 2012, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs was quick to issue a statement in praise of the democratic elections held in Taiwan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper dispatched envoys to take part in the presidential inauguration ceremonies, and the president expressed his gratitude for all of these gestures. He further noted that in 2010 the two countries signed a youth working holiday agreement and Canada began allowing Taiwanese to make visits to Canada without visas. Both of these developments highlight the close friendship between the two nations, he concluded.