President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of May 13 with a delegation from the Heritage Foundation of the United States. The president extended a cordial welcome to the visitors and briefed them on the substantive achievements of the ROC government in strengthening ties between Taiwan and the United States, improving cross-strait relations, and promoting peace in the region.
In remarks, President Ma commented that the Heritage Foundation is an important American think tank. Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint , he said, assumed his post in April 2013 and this marks his first trip to Asia in his new capacity. Taiwan, the president stated, is the first stop on the delegation's tour through Asia, after which it will visit Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. This demonstrates the importance the organization places on the ROC and its strong support for Taiwan, he said. President Ma also thanked delegation member and Heritage Foundation Founder Dr. Edwin Feulner for his longstanding resolute support for the government and people of the ROC, adding that Dr. Feulner has made outstanding contributions to ties between the two sides.
As for Taiwan-US relations, the president stated, when he took office six years ago his first task was to strengthen relations with the United States and re-establish mutual trust at the highest levels of government, and substantive results have been achieved. For instance, he noted, April 10 marked the 35th anniversary of the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA). On that occasion, President Ma said, the American Institute in Taiwan issued a statement saying, "Our unofficial yet strong relationship with Taiwan has never been better ." Furthermore, during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman Ed Royce also emphasized the importance of the TRA in maintaining the relationship between the two sides, and expressed support for continued strengthening of bilateral ties, he mentioned. Moreover, the president said, US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy visited Taiwan in mid-April, making her the first American Cabinet official to visit Taiwan in 14 years. This visit, President Ma stated, was extremely significant.
The president further noted that the United States is Taiwan's third largest partner for trade in goods, while Taiwan is America's 12th largest partner for trade in goods and is an important importer of American agricultural products. The United States is also the largest source of direct investment for Taiwan, with aggregate investment totaling US$23 billion as of January of this year, he remarked. He said that Taiwan and the United States resumed negotiations under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement in March of last year, and he expressed hope that the two sides can sign a bilateral investment agreement, which would help to add even greater depth to the bilateral trade and economic relationship.
During a discussion of free trade matters, the president told the visitors that Taiwan continues to hasten its pace of liberalization. On January 14 of this year the Heritage Foundation, in conjunction with the Wall Street Journal, released the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom , which shows Taiwan in 17th place among the 185 nations and economic entities included in the report, up three places from last year, he remarked. In addition, Taiwan placed fifth among the 41 nations and economic entities in Asia, higher than Japan and Korea, which shows that the international community is recognizing the efforts and achievements of Taiwan's government in promoting economic and trade liberalization, he stated.
President Ma furthermore remarked that before he took office Taiwan had only signed four free trade agreements with five allied nations in Central America, covering only a small portion of Taiwan's total trade volume. To break through the difficulties Taiwan faces due to its unique situation, the president noted that upon taking office he instructed his administration actively pursue free trade agreements or economic cooperation agreements with Taiwan's major trading partners. The president expressed hope that progress in this regard will enable Taiwan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and thus avoid being marginalized amid the trend toward regional economic integration.
As for promoting regional peace, President Ma stated, Taiwan and Japan have signed a fisheries agreement that resolves a 40-year fishing dispute and enables fishermen from both countries to peacefully co-exist and carry out fishing operations in joint fishing grounds. The president also addressed the incident in which individuals on a Philippine coast guard vessel fired on a Taiwanese fishing boat in overlapping economic waters, damaging the fishing boat and killing a fisherman. He said that Taiwan again resorted to peaceful means to resolve the controversy. The president added that the two sides have also reached a consensus 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 agreement is important to Taiwan-Philippine relations and regional peace, commented President Ma. He also stated that at a House hearing on February 5, Daniel Russel, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, also applauded Taiwan's East China Sea Peace Initiative. The president said that the spirit of the initiative can also be applied to the South China Sea, as well as to aviation safety.
President Ma then discussed relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, saying that over the past six years the ROC government has consistently sought, under the framework of the ROC Constitution, to maintain the status quo of "no unification, no independence, 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. At present, he said, cross-strait relations are at their most stable since the two sides came under separate rule 65 years ago. The government here, he noted, has gradually created a framework for the two sides to pursue sustainable development, peace, and prosperity. "We hope that under this framework, the people of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will be able to interact and continue to work for a future characterized by peace and prosperity," the president said.
Lastly, President Ma emphasized that US support for a range of policies pursued here is an important reason why Taiwan has been able to strengthen its ties with mainland China and the international community. In addition, American think tanks have considerable influence on a range of US public policies, he stated. President Ma said he hopes that this visit to Taiwan by the Heritage delegation will yield even greater understanding of the current state of Taiwan society and translate into even friendlier relations between the two countries.