President Ma Ying-jeou, together with Mrs. Ma, attended a Spring Festival party hosted for the Diplomatic Corps by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Grand Hotel on February 24. While there he delivered remarks to the assembled guests.
The president said that during his campaign for the presidency in 2007, he first brought up the idea of flexible diplomacy, stressing that Taiwan must concurrently address cross-strait relations as well as its external relations in order to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
President Ma said that soon after taking office in May 2008, he sought to resume cross-strait negotiations that had been discontinued for 10 years, with the 1992 Consensus as a foundation. Under that consensus, the two sides both came to accept the idea of "one China, respective interpretations." Since then, he remarked, the two sides have signed 12 agreements and reached one point of consensus, and bilateral relations have been improving step by step in a climate of stability.
The warming of relations between Taiwan and mainland China, he said, has not only resulted in greater security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, but also has paved the way for greater space for Taiwan in the international community. He particularly pointed out that the level of Taiwan's Leader's Representative in the APEC Summit has been raised. Meanwhile, the ROC's Minister of Health has been able to attend the World Health Assembly as an observer. Also, the nation has joined the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) under the World Trade Organization. He said he is very much pleased with these breakthroughs, which come as the result of many years of hard work.
President Ma said that we have been promoting a policy of flexible and aboveboard diplomacy to replace the scorched earth and checkbook approaches adopted by the previous administration. He added that the ROC embraces universal values such as democracy and humanitarianism in facing global challenges. In May of last year, the president indicated, the government released its White Paper on Foreign Aid Policy, which set forth that all foreign assistance should be made with proper goals, through legal processes, and carried out with effective administration. He said that in the future, the ROC will adopt more professional and transparent methods in engaging in cooperation with its friends and allies.
The president remarked that when the same event was held last year, he mentioned the new mission and direction of the ROC's diplomatic work, namely to guide Taiwan's economy towards a new "viable path" of growth and expansion. For our diplomats in the future, he said, improving bilateral economic, trade, cultural, and humanitarian contacts with our allies must be made another part of their daily work. Especially, the president noted, our entry into the GPA will create enormous business opportunities in Europe and the United States, which are estimated to exceed US$900 billion. The president expressed his hopes that personnel stationed overseas will provide more information in this regard in order to enable local companies to take advantage of these opportunities.
President Ma added that we are looking to transform Taiwan into a regional springboard, a global center for innovation, an economic and trade hub in the Asia-Pacific region, an operations headquarters for Taiwan companies worldwide, and a regional headquarters for foreign companies. In this regard, we hope to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with mainland China, our largest trading partner, he said. This agreement on the one hand will increase bilateral trade and protect Taiwan investments and intellectual property rights, and will at the same time boost the willingness of foreign companies to invest in Taiwan. Besides discussing the ECFA with mainland China, the president said, we will also negotiate and sign free trade agreements with other major trading partners, thereby preventing Taiwan from being shut out of the process of economic integration within the Asia-Pacific region.
President Ma remarked that as President of the Republic of China, he wants to make the country a responsible stakeholder in the international community. That is to say, the ROC wants to become a peacemaker, not a troublemaker; a developmental and humanitarian assistance provider, not an unconcerned onlooker, he said. Only by acting as a responsible stakeholder can Taiwan become a respectable member of the international community, he said, adding that this is the goal of our foreign policy.