President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of June 16 with a delegation led by Mr. Kin Moy, the new director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan. In addition to welcoming Mr. Moy to his new post, the president also called for continued progress in Taiwan-US relations.
In remarks, President Ma noted that Mr. Moy is a veteran US diplomat who has previously been posted to Beijing, Seoul, and Busan. He also served at the US Department of State's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in both the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs and the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia, and was a key staffer for Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, and Hillary Clinton.
The president said that while Mr. Moy was serving as the deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, he actively worked to develop Taiwan-US relations and was part of many important achievements. In 2012, for example, the US admitted Taiwan to its Visa Waiver Program, and 2013 saw the completion of a new Taiwan-US Agreement on Privileges, Exemptions, and Immunities. These undertakings, said the president, have brought great benefits to people and government officials from Taiwan. Especially noteworthy, he added, is that Mr. Moy was the first US deputy assistant secretary of state to speak in public praise of "the comprehensive, durable, mutually beneficial relationship between the United States and Taiwan." He was also the first official from the US executive branch to publicly declare that the US welcomes Taiwan's admission to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and is very knowledgeable about Taiwan affairs.
Commenting on Taiwan-US relations, President Ma pointed out that in the seven years since he took office, he has taken a "low key, no surprises" approach to dealings with the US, and this has resulted in steady progress. In recent years there have been frequent high-level visits between officials from the two sides. For example, US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy came to Taiwan in April of last year, and more recently Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles Rivkin has also visited, clear indications of the solid foundation of trust that exists between Taiwan and the US.
President Ma further explained that the US has always faithfully fulfilled the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances of 1982. In the area of arms sales to Taiwan, for example, the US has sold a total of US$18.3 billion worth of arms to Taiwan since he took office seven years ago, which is the highest total in the past 20 years and twice what was sold during his predecessor's administration. Last year, moreover, the US sold our nation two Perry-class frigates, and Taiwan has enjoyed strong support in the US Congress. The Senate and House Armed Services Committees, during deliberations on the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2016 in this past May, both passed initiatives calling for increased Taiwan-US military exchanges, including inviting Taiwan to participate in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) and the Red Flag training exercises. The level of bilateral security cooperation has thus been upgraded.
Commenting on economic and trade relations, President Ma pointed out that two years ago Taiwan and the US resumed talks under the 1994 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement after a five-year hiatus. These bilateral talks continue today, with the two sides having met for 12 working-level meetings thus far, marking an important milestone in bilateral relations, said the president. And in late March of this year, Taiwan surpassed India and Saudi Arabia to become the tenth-largest trading partner of the US, while the US ranks as Taiwan's third-largest trading partner behind only mainland China and Japan. In addition, the US in November 2012 included Taiwan in its Visa Waiver Program. Among the 38 nations admitted to the program, the president added, Taiwan is the only one that has no diplomatic ties with the US, and since Taiwan was admitted to the program the number of Taiwanese traveling to the US has risen by 20%.
President Ma further stated that Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, along with various US academics, have publicly commented positively on the progress in Taiwan-US relations. All this shows, said the president, that over the last seven years Taiwan-US ties are the best they have been in the 36 years since the Taiwan Relations Act was passed. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel has praised the Taiwan government for its "low-key, no-surprises" approach to Taiwan-US relations, as well as its stable handling of cross-strait relations, while Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton has also stressed that Taiwan and mainland China need to work for continued peace and stability.
President Ma told the visitors that the US, mainland China, and Taiwan all hold very similar views regarding cross-strait relations, and added that even our opposition parties hope to maintain the status quo. The president emphasized that today's "status quo" did not actually exist before he came to office, and that Taiwan-US relations suffered when his two predecessors in office described cross-strait ties first as "special state-to-state relations," which the media dubbed the "two states theory," and later as "one country on each side." The fact is, he said, "what the people of Taiwan support is today's 'status quo,' not the 'status quo' of seven years ago." In his first inaugural address seven years ago, the president pledged that his administration would work, under the framework of the ROC Constitution, to maintain the principle of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force," and that his administration, acting on the basis of the "1992 Consensus"—whereby each side acknowledges the existence of "one China" but maintains its own interpretation of what that means—would seek peaceful cross-strait relations. And during a speech at a recent June 3 videoconference with Stanford University, the president once again reiterated that his administration's conduct of cross-strait relations, under the framework of the ROC Constitution, based on the "1992 Consensus," has spurred positive developments in Taiwan-US relations.
Turning to the topic of regional peace, President Ma stated that in putting forward the East China Sea Peace Initiative in 2012, he called for shelving sovereignty disputes and jointly developing the area's resources. Then in 2013 his administration signed a fisheries agreement with Japan, thus effectively putting an end to a 40-year old bilateral fisheries dispute. In the process, he said, Taiwan did not yield an inch on sovereignty while securing big advances in fishing rights. The government here therefore hopes that its experience in pursuing peace and cooperation in the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea can be extended to the South China Sea as well. Even though Taiwan controls fewer islands than any of the other disputants in the South China Sea, he said, if all the parties focus only on sovereignty disputes while overlooking resource development, they will never make any progress at all. That is why Taiwan has put forward a neutral solution, thus getting all sides off to a good start on the path toward shared peace and prosperity.
Lastly, the president said that ever since World War II the ROC and the US have had a strong and lasting friendship. The ROC government takes a "low-key, no surprises" approach to its relations with the US, and the two sides have reached consensus on many different matters. He thus hopes that they can continue cooperating to promote regional and world peace so that Taiwan-US relations can continue to move forward.
Mr. Moy then followed with remarks of his own, stating that the people of the US greatly admire the Taiwanese lifestyle, and have deep respect for their many accomplishments. During his stint as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, he actively sought to promote Taiwan-US relations and is thus honored to have this opportunity to come to Taiwan. He also said he hopes to further deepen bilateral friendship and cooperative relations.
On behalf of the US government, Mr. Moy praised the president for his efforts to promote regional peace and stability, and pointed out that Taiwan-US relations have seen stable development under President Ma's leadership over the past seven years. He said he hopes that the two sides can maintain close cooperation and that, acting in line with the principle of mutual benefit, they can work for world peace, stability, and prosperity.