President Ma Ying-jeou met with International Crisis Group (ICG) President and CEO Gareth Evans at the Presidential Office on the morning of May 25. The president welcomed Mr. Evans on another visit to Taiwan and expressed his appreciation to the ICG for its research on cross-strait relations.
President Ma noted that it has been quite a while since Mr. Evans last visited Taiwan. The primary mission of the ICG is to carry out research on conflicts and the settlement of conflicts in the international community. Since 2003, the ICG has issued five reports on the conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The last report was issued four years ago.
The president said that Taiwan and the ICG have long maintained contact with each other. In addition to its headquarters in Brussels, the ICG has branches or offices in the United States and Russia. The ICG, the president said, has quite a reputation as an institution able to provide crisis prevention strategies.
The president noted that Mr. Evans previously was a member of Australia's Parliament and also served as Attorney-General and Foreign Minister of Australia. He has an enormous amount of experience in the United Nations and other international institutions. This visit to Taiwan, the president said, comes at a time when significant changes have taken place in the Taiwan Strait. This is an extremely important development with regards to the ICG and Taiwan, as well as the Asia-Pacific region, he said.
Mr. Evans expressed his appreciation to President Ma for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with him. He remarked that the ICG and Taiwan have a long and deep-seated relationship, and that his organization has long paid the utmost attention to the state of cross-strait relations. Major changes have been seen in cross-strait ties over the past year since President Ma took office, he said, adding that he is pleased to have this opportunity to discuss issues in this regard with President Ma.