President Lee Teng-hui this morning received Governor Gary Locke of the State of Washington, USA, and extended a warm welcome to the delegation.
Governor Locke and his delegation are visiting Taipei for the development of better understanding and promotion of trade links with the ROC. During the meeting, President Lee congratulated Governor Locke on his being the first governor of Chinese descent in US history. The President said that Taiwan, being an important trading partner of the State of Washington, shares a close trading relationship with the latter. He stated his belief that there will be a bright future in high-tech cooperation and agricultural trade between the two sides.
The President also pointed out that the ROC's economic transformation has been successful during the past several decades. At the early stage, agriculture, with its export surplus, provided the capital to develop industry. Later on, labor-intensive industries were successfully upgraded to capital- and technology-intensive industries. "It was a long road, but we have overcome the difficulties step by step through the efforts of all the people in this country and through the foresight and transparency of the government's policy. These are the same reasons why we can endure the Asian financial turmoil and keep the economy steady and growing", added the President.
Governor Locke gave his compliments to President Lee, under whose leadership the ROC has performed tremendously well in economic development and political democratization, and called the President a history maker because President Lee is the first popularly elected president in Chinese history. He stated his belief that democracy will prevail in China and Asia in the future.
In the meeting, the Governor also expressed his appreciation to President Lee for the steps the ROC's agriculture and customs authorities have adopted to prevent counterfeit Washington apples from mainland China from entering the local markets. He hoped the ROC government will prosecute the criminals and wipe out such counterfeit activities for the mutual benefit of and for improving the trade environment between Taiwan and Washington State.
Accompanied by Mr. Francisco H. L. Ou（ROC vice foreign minister）, and Mr. Darryl Johnson（director of Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan ）, Governor Locke, along with delegation members, including Ms. Nellie Cheng（East Asia director, Department of Community, Trade & Economic Development 《CTED》 and Department of Agriculture）, Mr. Jim Jesernig（director, Department of Agriculture）, Mr. Tim Douglas（director, CTED）, Mr. Fred Kiga（director, Department of Revenue）, Mr. Brent Heinemann（director, Office of International Relations & Protocol）and Mr. William Gates（chair, The Technology Alliance, Seattle）, came to the Office of the President for the meeting. Also present was Dr. Su Chi, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the President.