The Office of the President on the afternoon of March 2 held a press conference to announce that President Ma will lead a delegation to six diplomatic allies in the South Pacific from March 21 to March 27. The president will make state visits to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Republic of Nauru, the Solomon Islands, and the Republic of Palau. Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs David Y. L. Lin jointly presided over the press conference.
Vice Foreign Minister Lin announced that the president will visit the six diplomatic allies over a six-day period. The trip is significant in several respects.
First, the ROC generally sought in the past to hold summit meetings on a multilateral basis, with the objective being to solidify alliances with the countries participating in those meetings. However, since adoption of the flexible diplomacy policy, the ROC's relations with its Pacific allies have been relatively stable. Consequently, the ROC desires to engage in more direct and effective bilateral negotiations in order to enhance interaction with its allies. By so doing we will be able to pursue cooperation in a manner that better addresses the needs of the people of each particular nation and generates business opportunities for Taiwan companies.
Second, the ROC is itself a Pacific nation and its Pacific allies are our neighbors and cooperative partners. Vice Foreign Minister Lin said that President Ma's trip to these countries will demonstrate the importance the ROC attaches to its relationship with these nations, and to interaction on a bilateral basis among high-ranking officials.
Third, since President Ma took office, the leaders of these six Pacific allies have all made visits to Taiwan and have extended enthusiastic invitations to President Ma to visit their countries. President Ma's trip will be a fitting response to these warm invitations, and will also enable him to tour the countries and better understand the state of development there. This will help to pave the way for strengthened bilateral cooperation.
Besides being President Ma's first visit to the ROC's South Pacific allies since he took office in May 2008, this trip will also mark the first time that an ROC president has journeyed to all six of the nation's diplomatic allies in the South Pacific in just six days.
The central theme of the trip will be "Effective Cooperation and Sustainable Development." This will highlight the ROC's desire to continue to enhance cooperation with its six allies in the region and its determination and good faith in promoting development in the South Pacific. President Ma will hold bilateral talks with the leaders of each nation and attend state banquets at each stop along the way. While in the Solomon Islands, President Ma will deliver an address before that country's National Parliament and will be decorated by that nation's government. Also during his stops in the various countries, President Ma will announce cooperation projects on six fronts, namely medical care, fisheries, vocational training, food security, clean energy, and cultural exchanges.
Vice Foreign Minister Lin furthermore explained that while in the Marshall Islands, the focus will be on cooperation in the area of medical and health care, and the leaders of the two countries will participate in a ceremony to plant trees. The main theme in Kiribati will be on fisheries cooperation, with President Ma scheduled to visit a local aquaculture center. Vocational training will be the key topic during the president's trip to Tuvalu, and arrangements have been made for President Ma to visit a Taiwan-Tuvalu friendship farm. In Nauru, agricultural cooperation will be the main focus, and while there the president will visit phosphorous mines. Meanwhile, when in the Solomon Islands, discussions on cooperation will focus on clean energy, and the president will preside over a performance by a goodwill flotilla. Cultural exchanges will be the main theme of the president's trip to Palau, and while in that nation President Ma will visit conservation areas.
Vice Foreign Minister Lin commented that the aforementioned cooperation projects are all based on the specific needs of each ally and all reflect the principles of "proper goals, legal processes, and effective administration" as directed by the president and are in the spirit of the White Paper on Foreign Aid Policy previously released by the government. In addition, in order to further realize the concept of cultural diplomacy as expressed by the president and highlight the deep ties between the ROC and South Seas cultures, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has specially asked the Executive Yuan's Council of Indigenous Peoples to recommend that the Formosa Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe accompany the president on the trip and perform in each of the six countries.
Vice Foreign Minister Lin remarked that as this trip is characterized by short stops in each country, planners are looking to streamline the size of the delegation. He said that it is expected that around 50 people will be included in the trip.