President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of July 3 at the Presidential Office met with Mrs. Monique Papon, the president of the French Senate's Taiwan Friendship Group. The president extended a warm welcome on behalf of the government of the ROC (Taiwan) to Mrs. Papon on visiting Taiwan after making the distant journey, and also expressed his appreciation to the Taiwan Friendship Group for its outstanding contributions over the years to promoting relations between the two countries.
President Ma said that he has met President Papon three times over the past two years, twice in Taiwan and once in Paris. The president recalled that in November 2006, he attended a conference in Paris and delivered a speech during that visit. President Papon made special arrangements so that he could meet with some of her colleagues in the Senate and also have lunch with them. This provided him the opportunity to explain various policy positions. At the time, President Ma was the mayor of Taipei. Nonetheless, he has consistently emphasized the relationship between Taiwan and France. He added that the discussions between both sides have always been quite pleasant.
Mrs. Papon thanked President Ma for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with her. In addition, she noted that over 50 senators are members of the French Senate's Taiwan Friendship Group. The group is made up of senators from various parties, demonstrating that support for and friendship with Taiwan transcends political boundaries in France. Mrs. Papon also congratulated President Ma on winning the presidential election. She said that she pays close attention to Taiwan-related affairs and closely monitored developments related to the presidential election. She noted that Taiwan has held four direct presidential elections since 1996, adding that this signifies Taiwan already exhibits a high degree of democratic maturity and places it in the community of democratic nations. She especially mentioned that President Ma's inauguration address was extremely constructive. Mrs. Papon said she is full of confidence and hope with regards to Taiwan's future.
President Papon also said that the French Senate's Taiwan Friendship Group consists of many senators friendly to Taiwan. Each year, the group holds a number of information campaigns and cultural activities. In addition to engaging in cultural interaction, President Papon said she hopes that Taiwan and France will be able to further strengthen their economic relationship, along with exchanges on the local government level. She said that French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently assumed the rotating European Union presidency. She said that in addition to improving bilateral relations between Taiwan and France, it is hoped that the relations between Taiwan and the EU can be bolstered as well. She said the Taiwan Friendship Group will continue to exert as much influence as it can in the Senate to assist in strengthening Taiwan-French relations.
President Ma responded that under the outstanding leadership of President Papon and the assistance provided by many of its members, the French Senate's Taiwan Friendship Group has played an extremely important role in helping to expand relations between the two countries. The president said he feels that based on the foundation that has been created there is still considerable room for bilateral relations to improve further. He pointed out that last year, bilateral trade stood at US$4 billion. This is a relatively small proportion of Taiwan's total foreign trade of around US$460 billion, and therefore an opportunity exists to work to expand trade. The president said that in terms of cultural exchanges, he is promoting programs that would boost student exchanges between the two countries. President Ma said he is confident that these types of activities can expand the basis for bilateral interaction, and they will indirectly aid in increasing bilateral trade and investment down the road.
Lastly, President Ma said that the United Daily News Group has helped sponsor an exhibit of paintings by Jean Francois Millet here, and the response to the exhibition among the Taiwan public has been quite enthusiastic. To date, over 130,000 people have seen the exhibit. In addition to demonstrating the Taiwan public's respect and admiration for French art, this also symbolizes the extremely close relations between the private sectors in Taiwan and France. President Ma said he is confident that Taiwan-French relations will continue to develop in the future.