Following a two-hour flight from Houston, Texas, the Forever Peaceful Project delegation led by President Ma Ying-jeou landed at La Aurora International Airport in the capital, Guatemala City, at 1:25 p.m. on March 14 (Monday) local time (3:25 a.m. March 15 Taipei time), the first stop on this visit to two Central American allies.
After the chartered plane came to a halt on the tarmac, ROC Ambassador to Guatemala Lai Chien-chung (賴建中) and Denis Ortiz (coordinator of protocol in the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs) boarded the aircraft to welcome President Ma. Guatemalan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Martinez was also at the door to the plane to welcome the president. The deputy minister accompanied President Ma to a pre-arranged location for photographs, where they saluted a military honor guard. The president shook hands with leading local expatriates, embassy personnel and family members, and elementary school students who were on hand to welcome him. The atmosphere was very warm and enthusiastic.
President Ma and his delegation then proceeded to the National Palace of Culture, where they were welcomed by President Jimmy Morales. After the Guatemalan Honor Guard played each country's national anthem, President Ma delivered a speech in which he said it was a great honor to be welcomed with military honors at the National Palace of Culture, the most historic building in the country. On behalf of the entire delegation, President Ma delivered sincere greetings and thanks to President Morales as well as the government and people of Guatemala.
President Ma pointed out that he had previously visited Guatemala in 2000 as mayor of Taipei and again in 2009 as president, and was deeply impressed by the brilliance of the Mayan civilization and Guatemala's rich culture. On this, his third visit, he could clearly see the Guatemalan government's dedication to preserving the National Palace of Culture and other historic sites, a spirit that Taiwan would do well to emulate. The president said he was looking forward to being updated on the progress achieved by Guatemala since his last visit.
President Ma indicated that the ROC and Guatemala are both countries that love freedom and peace, whose governments and peoples share a commitment to the universal values of democracy, freedom, and fraternity. No matter how the international situation might change, the two countries will surely maintain lasting and friendly diplomatic ties, as well as wide-ranging and vibrant interaction. The scope of bilateral cooperation includes infrastructure, economic and trade ties, medicine and public health, education and research, culture, journalism, and technology. In all these areas, he said, tremendous successes have been achieved. The president expressed hope that Taiwan and Guatemala will continue to deepen exchanges across the board, and that they will work together to promote the well-being of the peoples of both nations.
In the aftermath of the major earthquake of February 6, 2016 in southern Taiwan’s Tainan City, President Morales and the Guatemalan government immediately expressed their concern, for which President Ma offered his sincerest thanks. President Ma closed his remarks with a few Spanish phrases, expressing his wish for a lasting friendship and enduring diplomatic ties.
After the speech, the two presidents jointly reviewed an honor guard performance and bowed before the national flags of their two countries. Then, in order to commemorate the visit and to remind people of the importance of peace, President Ma took part in a once-a-day local custom by removing a rose from the National Palace peace memorial (sculpted in the form of a pair of upwardly outstretched hands) and replacing it with a fresh one.
After that, President Ma and President Morales conducted bilateral talks, engaging in a wide-ranging exchange of views on cooperation between the two countries. Upon completion of the talks, the two heads of state held a joint press conference.
President Ma opened the press conference by presenting President Morales, on behalf of the ROC, with anti-mosquito equipment to express the two countries' heartfelt desire to safeguard the health and well-being of their people. In remarks, Mr. Ma said that this was his second visit to Guatemala in his capacity as president, and he had unfortunately been unable to attend the inauguration of President Morales this past January 14 because it coincided with Taiwan's own presidential election, so he dispatched ROC Minister of Foreign Affairs David Y. L. Lin (林永樂) to attend the inauguration as his envoy.
Remarking that March 14 marked the two-month anniversary of the inauguration of President Morales, President Ma stated that the ROC is ready and willing to work together with Guatemala on three key focal points of public policy that President Morales has talked about—infrastructure, medicine and public health, and education. First, regarding infrastructure, President Ma noted that Guatemala's Highway CA-9 (the Atlantic Highway) has been a major ongoing cooperation project between Taiwan and Guatemala. Phases one and two of the project have already been completed, and a groundbreaking ceremony for phase-three widening of the highway was held last year. Hopefully the construction work can continue moving forward so that this key Guatemalan traffic artery can be completed. Second, in the field of medicine and public health, President Ma mentioned that when the ROC delegation presented anti-mosquito equipment to President Morales just moments earlier, it was a timely response to the spreading Zika virus. The Guatemalan government may find the equipment useful, he said, as it employs different methods in different areas to combat mosquitos. President Ma mentioned that Taiwan had an especially serious problem in 2015 with Dengue fever, and mosquitos are the transmission vector for both Dengue fever and the Zika virus, so the ROC is very happy to share its epidemic prevention experience with Guatemala.
In the field of education, said President Ma, the ROC runs a Taiwan Scholarship program to encourage outstanding students from Guatemala to study in Taiwan. In 2013, I-Shou University in Kaohsiung City established a School of Medicine for International Students, and the president expressed confidence that after the excellent students enrolled there complete their studies and return home, they will certainly be able to put what they've learned to good use, and become the backbone of ongoing medical cooperation between the ROC and its diplomatic allies. President Ma also stated that Taiwan is world-renowned for its advanced liver transplant capabilities, so the ROC would be quite pleased to share its experience to help improve the quality of medical care in Guatemala. In the future, he added, it might be possible to launch a special medical program to further deepen bilateral medical cooperation.
During the bilateral talks, said President Ma, he invited President Morales to attend the upcoming May 20 inauguration of Taiwan's new president, who will be the first female president in ROC history. President Ma said he really hopes President Morales can be there for the big event, and that the presence of a Guatemalan delegation will help to further consolidate and expand bilateral cooperation in all different fields.
The two heads of state then fielded questions from journalists, who asked about successes achieved in bilateral cooperation projects, the principles governing ROC foreign aid, and the future direction of cooperation between the two countries.
After completing the visit to the National Palace of Culture, President Ma proceeded to the Pradera shopping center to stop in at a shop that sells pearl milk tea, a Taiwanese specialty.
After President Ma arrived at the shop, proprietor Karla Paniagua explained how she had come to establish the business, and invited President Ma to try the pearl milk tea. Then Alejandro Larios (who heads an association of people who have studied in Taiwan), Karen Acajabon (who has studied in Taiwan), and Eric Flores (who is married to a Taiwanese woman) all spoke about their experiences studying and living in Taiwan. In addition to chatting with these people, President Ma also listened as Ms. Acajabon entertained everyone with a rendition of Friends, a Taiwanese pop song.
In the evening, President Ma and the delegation attended a state banquet hosted by President Morales at the National Palace of Culture.
In remarks at the banquet, President Ma mentioned that President Morales has made firm policy commitments in a number of important areas—including medicine and public health, education, government ethics, and measures to fight corruption—and has proposed a series of reform measures designed to deliver what the people demand. His leadership, said President Ma, represents a totally new hope and vision for Guatemala's long-term development. In fact, President Ma added, the reforms proposed by President Morales are quite reminiscent of the policies that he himself has pursued for the past eight years.
President Ma pointed out that Guatemala is an active participant in the process of Central American integration. It plays important roles, for example, in the Central American Integration System and the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), as well as the Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle, an undertaking spearheaded by the United States. He added that Guatemala's good weather has earned it the nickname "land of the eternal spring," and the nation is rich in both natural resources and cultural heritage. President Ma said that during his previous visits to Guatemala in 2000 and 2009 he came away deeply impressed by the scenic beauty and long history of the city of Antigua and Tikal National Park, and how Mayan culture had made an indelible mark on contemporary Guatemala.
President Ma mentioned that when he changed the rose at the National Palace peace memorial earlier that day, the ritual prompted him to reflect on history and the sacred nature of peace. Guatemala has experienced the pain of civil war, but a peace accord was finally signed in 1996, and the president said that the past no doubt makes the people of Guatemala all the more aware of the true significance of democracy, freedom, and peace.
The president stated that the ROC, too, has been struggling against the Communist Party of China for 80 years, and during that time there was a bloody civil war that lasted for 3 years. That is why, since taking office, he has sought cross-strait reconciliation and peace, and promoted cooperation. "There are no winners in war, or losers in peace," he said, adding that this is what motivated him to propose the East China Sea Peace Initiative and the South China Sea Peace Initiative.
Hopefully, said the president, given the commitment of Taiwan and Guatemala to a shared set of common values—freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law—the two countries can continue forward with a broad range of cooperation that will increase the well-being of the peoples of both nations.