President Chen Shui-bian wrapped up his trip of "hand in hand moving toward co-prosperity" on the evening of October 2, and spoke at the airport.
The president's speech:
As Typhoon Longwang hit Taiwan, my return from the trip of "hand in hand moving toward co-prosperity" was delayed as a result. While I was abroad consolidating our diplomatic ties, my heart was in Taiwan thinking about the typhoon. I made three phone calls back home to Premier Hsieh, asking that our government make every effort to contain possible impact, that the water problems of the Shihmen Reservoir and of the greater Taoyuan area be paid special attention to, and that the losses of our people be reduced to the lowest possible. We're happy that God has blessed Taiwan, and there were no serious damages reported.
When it comes to natural disasters, we need to prepare patiently and to cope with emergencies wisely. It's the same as we talk about maintaining diplomatic relationships. We need firm confidence to expand our diplomatic ties and we need forward-looking plans. More importantly, we need the support of our people to accomplish what we go for.
Although we've been facing a mission that is almost impossible, I've always had faith in Taiwan as the leader of our country. Diplomacy can be done through painstaking efforts. The international space of Taiwan is always full of possibilities as long as we have the will to make efforts. Take our transit stop in Miami for example. We arrived in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina. As we thought we might not be unable to land in Miami, we did it at last. There we met with officials of the U.S. government, members of the House of Representatives, and the Senate as well. And there we talked a lot on many major issues. I wish that God save America from being attacked by the devastating storms again.
During the summit with leaders of our diplomatic allies in Nicaragua, I unveiled a new diplomatic scheme of the "Jung Pang Project." It copes with the new, future environment as the free trade agreement between the United States and Central America is about to be implemented. The new initiative also demonstrates our determination that Taiwan aims to shrug off the image of "money diplomacy." As it may cause misunderstanding from the outside world at first, our explanation and determination have helped our allies know more about how Taiwan's government will act in terms of diplomacy in the future.
The fact that we are able to visit the United Arab Emirates this time is the result of the concerted efforts done by our diplomatic and national security talents. All the members here and I, however, are not to be satisfied only with this achievement as the strengthening of our diplomatic ties needs long-term and committed efforts. The positive result of this trip coming from our painstaking efforts only reminds us that greater perseverance and a humble mind are needed, if we want to have better achievements.
I had to make a stopover in Bali, Indonesia, because of the typhoon. And I extend my gratitude to the Indonesian government for providing us with a comfortable, safe and convenient environment during our stay there.
I believe for sure that so long as we stand united, put together all resources we have, help each other, make good use of economic and trade diplomacy, human rights diplomacy, and cooperate extensively in security issues with other countries, we'll find our oasis one after the other in the diplomatic desert.