President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of April 1 with the ROC delegation that will attend the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2014, which is held annually in Boao in mainland China's Hainan Province. In addition to expressing his views on the recent student movement here, the president also called on the delegation to familiarize others at the conference with the government's efforts and achievements in promoting cross-strait relations, which is bringing peace to the Taiwan Strait.
In remarks, President Ma recognized the outstanding contributions by Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation Honorary Chairman Vincent C. Siew (蕭萬長), who has led the delegation from Taiwan many times since 2003, adding that he has helped establish a good avenue of communication between the two sides. President Ma said that Honorary Chairman Siew in April 2008 had attended the forum right before he took office as ROC Vice President and at that time met and exchanged opinions with mainland China's leadership. This was an important factor behind the subsequent rapid improvement in relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, he remarked.
The president noted that this year's Boao Forum will convene on April 8 and the theme for the 2014 event will be "Asia's New Future: Identifying New Growth Drivers," with discussions to focus on reform, innovation, and sustainable development. President Ma said the discussions will provide important reference to Taiwan in its current development planning.
As for the issue of free trade, the president stated, Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization in 2002 in hopes of achieving trade liberalization via multilateral talks. However, talks at the Doha round stalled and nations throughout the world subsequently returned to negotiating bilateral agreements, he said. In order to overcome difficulties to Taiwan in this respect, the government in 2010 signed the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with mainland China. It then signed the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement, and resumed negotiations with the United States under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. The president also pointed out that in July 2013 Taiwan signed the ANZTEC economic cooperation agreement with New Zealand, and then in November signed the ASTEP economic partnership agreement with Singapore and the Taiwan-Japan Arrangement for Mutual Cooperation on Electronic Commerce. These developments indicate that Taiwan is gradually making progress in signing bilateral FTA-type agreements with other countries, he commented.
President Ma further stated that the government is strongly promoting free economic pilot zones to attract foreign investment and build Taiwan into a "free economic island." Externally, Taiwan is seeking to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), two trade blocs that account for 35% and 57% of Taiwan's external trade, respectively, he said. The president noted joining these two trade blocs is crucial if Taiwan is to be included in regional economic integration. He added that he recently asked Honorary Chairman Siew to combine the power of the private sector with the efforts of the government to create the conditions that will help Taiwan join the TPP and the RCEP.
As for relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, President Ma mentioned, cross-strait ties have continued to progress since he took office in 2008. To date, he said, the two sides have signed 21 agreements and reached two points of consensus. The president cited statistics showing that the number of visits to Taiwan by mainland Chinese tourists has increased 10-fold from 290,000 prior to his taking office to 2.85 million visitors last year. Meanwhile, the number of mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwan has risen 30-fold from 823 prior to his taking office to over 24,000, he said. President Ma also commented that since the signing by Taiwan and mainland China of the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, the two sides have cooperated in arresting nearly 6,000 criminals for fraud, which has effectively curbed cross-border crime.
The president also stated that in the middle of February this year Minister Wang Yu-Chi (王郁琦) of the Executive Yuan's Mainland Affairs Council met with mainland China's Minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) in Nanjing. The event was extremely meaningful to cross-strait relations, he said, adding that in the coming few months the two sides will continue talks on a variety of important topics, such as the exchange of cross-strait representative offices. The president expressed hope that breakthroughs will be seen in these talks. In addition, he pointed out, the Boao Forum has played an important role in the course of cross-strait negotiations. In addition to high-ranking mainland Chinese leaders attending the event, many important individuals from the international community take part. He expressed hope that the delegation from Taiwan will tell others at the event about our efforts and achievements in promoting cross-strait relations, and how this is leading to peace in the Taiwan Strait.
The president then addressed the issue of whether the recent student movement here will have an impact on cross-strait relations. He stated that some members of the public have an indescribable fear of the development of cross-strait relations. For instance, President Ma remarked, the government has repeatedly explained that the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement does not open up Taiwan's doors to laborers from mainland China. Nonetheless, there are still people who are worried that the pact will reduce job opportunities, he said. The president noted that in fact over the past five years 495 mainland Chinese enterprises have invested in Taiwan, and while 264 managerial personnel associated with those investments are working in Taiwan, these investments have created a total of 9,624 jobs. As a result, people should not feel threatened, he said. In addition, the president commented, if Taiwan does not liberalize now, its efforts to join in the process of regional economic integration will be impacted.
President Ma stated that the students are well-intentioned, and care for society. However, they should express their opinions in a reasonable and peaceful manner. He said that he recently met with a visitor from the United States, who told him that he understood the government's handling of the situation. The visitor also mentioned that the American public, even if it is unhappy with the actions of the legislature, will still show the legislative bodies in the United States a basic respect. President Ma said that the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement is returning to committee for review, as called for in an agreement that the ruling and opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan reached in July of last year on how to proceed with review. In regard to the demand by the students for "the institutionalization of an oversight mechanism for cross-strait agreements," the president noted, the Kuomintang's legislative caucus on February 29 of this year already proposed a four-stage "mechanism for oversight of cross-strait agreements." Consequently, he said, the Executive Yuan's Mainland Affairs Council has already formulated draft legislation in this regard that is expected to be submitted to the Executive Yuan this Thursday.
President Ma also mentioned that he has already invited student representatives seven times to engage in dialogue at the Office of the President, and that the proceedings of these talks will be fully open. However, he said, he cannot agree to the request of the students for him to go to the Legislative Yuan, as the ROC Constitution mandates that the president cannot go to the legislature at will unless he is invited to present a state-of-the-nation report to the lawmakers. Therefore, the president remarked, he is sincere in his invitation to the students to come to the Office of the President so all sides can exchange opinions on issues of concern.
The members of Taiwan's delegation to the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2014 include Mr. Frederick Chien (錢復) (Senior Advisor to the Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation and Chairman of Cathay Charity Foundation), Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation Chairman Hou-Sheng Chan (詹火生), and Adimmune Corp. Chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢). The delegation was led by Honorary Chairman Siew to the Office of the President to meet with President Ma.