President Chen Shui-bian today met with the president of the Asia-Pacific Policy Research Institute (APPRI) Sun Hsi Shih. He not only welcomed the visitor, but also offered his appreciation for his contribution to the Taiwan-Korea relationship.
The President said that he was very pleased to be able to meet Sun. He said that in the past two years, the Taiwan-Korea relationships have had extremely pleasant cooperation and exchanges including visa-free agreements. The Taiwan-Korea air routes were restored and Taiwan has established landing facilities at Busan--indications of mutual cooperation. The President further spoke on bilateral trade figures, saying that 566,000 people have travelled between the two countries last year - a 26% leap from two years ago. Bilateral trade reached US$17 billion, which is 28% growth from the year before. Korea had a US$6 billion trade surplus with Taiwan. These figures indicate a friendly relationship between the two nations, he said.
The President spoke on the cross-Strait relationship, stressing that China does not abandon the option to use force against Taiwan and the Anti-separation law was passed with the intention to create a legal basis for plans to use military force against Taiwan, yet 70% of foreign investment by Taiwan is directed at China. This is an extremely big crisis, he said, adding that this crisis is his reason for including the "proactive management and effective liberalization" in his New Year's address. The president reiterated that resolving the differences between the two sides must comply with four principles of "sovereignty, democracy, peace and parity."