President Ma Ying-jeou on the afternoon of July 15 at the Presidential Office met with Philippine Senator Francis J. G. Escudero. The president extended a warm welcome and appreciation to Senator Escudero on behalf of the Republic of China government and the 23 million people of Taiwan.
President Ma praised Senator Escudero as an outstanding young talent in the political arena in the Philippines. In addition to being a highly popular figure among the public, Senator Escudero has a bright political future ahead of him, he said. In recent years, Senator Escudero has maintained close contact with overseas Chinese compatriots from Taiwan. The president added that he is extremely pleased to have the opportunity to meet with Senator Escudero.
President Ma said that Taiwan and the Philippines have a close relationship, which is not only based on their geographic proximity but also the broad range of ties between the two countries, he said. Manila and Taipei maintain a sister city relationship, the president noted. He said that when he served as Taipei mayor, he visited the Philippines and had pleasant and in-depth discussions with the mayor of Manila. He added that the Philippines representative in Taipei has participated in many activities here, helping to foster close bonds and friendship between the two sides. President Ma said that presently there are over 80,000 Philippine nationals in Taiwan and each year over 100,000 people from Taiwan visit the Philippines for tourism. He said he has visited the Philippines twice, adding that the Philippines is one of the nations in ASEAN that has the closest ties with Taiwan. As a result, in the future if Taiwan seeks to further engage in cooperation and exchanges with ASEAN nations, the Philippines will be the focus of the ROC government.
President Ma furthermore said that in the future ASEAN nations hope to establish a "10 Plus One" relationship with Mainland China. He added that the ROC government seeks to establish a similar free trade zone project with the Philippines and hopes that the Philippine government will work to overcome obstacles and provide assistance in realizing this initiative.
Philippine Senator Escudero was escorted to the Presidential Office in the afternoon to meet with President Ma by Manila Economic and Cultural Office Representative Antonio Basiolio and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Ching-shan Hou. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi.