On the morning of April 18, President Ma Ying-jeou met with a delegation of advisory board members from the International Leadership Foundation (ILF) and a trade mission from the US. The president thanked the ILF for its work to promote participation by young Chinese-Americans in public affairs, and briefed his visitors on how Taiwan's relations with the US and mainland China have changed and progressed over the past eight years.
In remarks, President Ma noted that the ILF is a non-profit organization established in 2000 in Washington, DC that has 15 chapters and some 2,000 members throughout the US and the Asia-Pacific region. For many years now it has promoted participation by Chinese-American youth in public affairs. By holding the Civic Fellowship program and providing funding to the Washington Leadership Program, the ILF provides young Chinese-Americans with internship opportunities in the US government. It also runs the Young Ambassador Program, under which outstanding students from Asia are invited to tour the US and interact with people in political circles there. These programs, which give young people more opportunities to come in contact with public affairs, make a huge contribution, said the president.
Commenting on what the ROC government does to encourage young people to participate in public affairs, President Ma stated that government and non-government entities take advantage of winter and summer breaks to arrange all sorts of activities that provide outlets for the creativity of energetic young people, giving them opportunities to come in contact with public affairs and take part in international events. When meeting recently at the Presidential Office with Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Rizal Ramli, said the president, he learned that Mr. Ramli had once taken part as a student in the US State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program, as had another attendee at the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Bruce J. D. Linghu (令狐榮達). The president remarked that both of those young participants have gone on to take high government positions, and added: "The personal friendships of yesteryear have become the state ties of today."
Turning to the subject of Taiwan-US relations, President Ma stated that he has taken a "low key, no surprises" approach to substantive ties since taking office in 2008. High-level trust has been restored, and bilateral exchanges have grown much closer. The number of bilateral agreements signed between Taiwan and the US has increased from 90 to 154, Taiwan has become the ninth-largest US trading partner, and in 2012 Taiwan was admitted to the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This breakthrough makes Taiwan the only nation of the 38 in the VWP that does not have formal diplomatic ties with the US, and has made people from Taiwan a lot more interested in traveling to or visiting America. In addition, the US has sold Taiwan US$20.1 billion worth of arms, much more than was sold during either of the two preceding administrations. It is thus clear, he said, that there is considerable depth to the bilateral relationship.
The president further mentioned that many senior US political leaders have commented very positively in recent years on the state of Taiwan-US relations. For example, when US President Barack Obama met this past March 31 with mainland Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平), President Obama spoke in very positive terms about the historic progress in cross-strait relations over the past eight years. Secretary of State John Kerry in April of 2015 stated that Taiwan is a key component of the US "Rebalance to Asia" policy. Another example occurred in May of the same year, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton publicly recognized that Taiwan-US relations have never been better. She also described Taiwan as a vital partner of the United States in East Asia, and said that stable management of cross-strait ties has been an important ingredient of close Taiwan-US cooperation in recent years.
President Ma stressed that improved cross-strait ties have also brought an improvement in Taiwan-US relations. For the US, Taiwan, and mainland China, said the president, his time in office represents the first time that each of the three sides has been able to interact well with either of the other two without worrying about affecting the third party. He illustrated this point by mentioning the November 7, 2015 meeting in Singapore between himself and mainland Chinese leader Xi. After finalizing their decision to have the meeting, the two sides agreed that each one would notify the US. Moreover, said the president, "we both provided notification at virtually the same time," a sign that "the formerly vicious cycle in the three-way relationship has been transformed after eight years of hard work into a virtuous cycle."
The delegation of over 40 people was led by Mayor Allan Fung (馮偉傑) of Cranston, Rhode Island and ILF Chief Executive Officer and Founding President Chiling Tong (董繼玲).