President Ma Ying-jeou, who is leading a delegation from the ROC to visit Taiwan's South Pacific allies, delivered remarks over the aircraft's public address system shortly after taking off on the trip on the evening of March 21. The president first expressed his appreciation to members of the delegation as well as journalists joining him on the trip.
The president remarked that this journey will set a number of precedents for him since taking office. First, he will visit six countries in six days, thereby utilizing the smallest number of days to make stops in all of the ROC's diplomatic allies in the South Pacific. Second, the allies are spread out over a vast distance and some of the airports have insufficient facilities to handle large planes. During the flight to Tuvalu, a chartered turboprop aircraft will be used so as to conform to aviation regulations there. A China Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which is suited for airports with short runways, will be employed for all the other stops. The president said that the technical challenges of this journey are quite high. Third, the chartered planes will make a total of 18 take-offs and landings during this trip, and the journey will cover in excess of 10,000 miles. This is truly the meaning of island hopping, he said.
President Ma remarked that despite the complexity and challenges in making this trip, he is determined to overcome all obstacles in order to visit its allies in the region. He cited several reasons for this. First, he said, the ROC is pursuing a policy of flexible diplomacy, and the results of the policy in helping to solidify its relations with its diplomatic allies are clear for all to see. He said that we will absolutely not take for granted the traditional friendship extended by our allies. In order to further strengthen ties with our diplomatic allies in the South Pacific, the president said that he decided to visit each one.
Next, global warming has led to a rise in sea levels, and this is already presenting a direct threat to the safety and survival of the ROC's allies in the South Pacific, the president said. He explained that he will exchange opinions on this topic during his talks with leaders in each of the nations, and will express the ROC's willingness to cooperate with our allies in responding to this threat. He added that we will also urge our allies to speak up in the international community and express support for participation by the ROC in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The ROC intends to promote solar power projects in each of these nations, he said. On the one hand, this will reduce carbon emissions, while on the other hand it will help our allies to spend less money on energy.
Third, the Pacific Ocean, the president said, covers one third of the Earth's surface, and it is home to abundant oceanic resources. However, the land mass of our allies in the region is limited and transportation among the various islands can be problematic. The president noted that the ROC has for many years provided technical assistance to these nations in the fields of farming, fisheries, medicine, education, and environmental protection, and many achievements have been chalked up as the result of these initiatives. The president pointed to the White Paper on Foreign Aid Policy released by the ROC last year, saying that we now stress that foreign assistance must have proper goals, be carried out via legal processes, and be effectively administered. At the same time, cooperation projects must offer tangible results and help improve living standards for the people. The president said that our South Pacific allies are all facing a number of similar problems, such as insufficient jobs, imbalanced diets, and a lack of adequate medical resources. With this in mind, the ROC has designed cooperation projects to be carried out in these six countries, covering the areas of medicine, fisheries, vocational training, agriculture, energy, and culture, he said. The president stated that the ROC hopes these programs will provide the most direct and effective form of assistance. In addition, he said, an important direction of flexible diplomacy is to generate greater vitality for Taiwan's domestic economy and develop business opportunities. Therefore, Taiwan companies will be invited to participate in the cooperation projects that are being planned, he said.
After about a four-hour flight, the president's aircraft arrived in Guam at 1:20 a.m. Guam time on March 22 (11:20 p.m. March 21 Taipei time). Taiwan's Representative to the United States, Jason C. Yuan, boarded the plane upon its arrival to welcome President Ma and the delegation on their transit stop.
After brief discussions and re-fueling, the aircraft departed Guam at 2:20 a.m. Guam time (12:20 a.m. March 22 Taipei time) and headed to the Marshall Islands, marking the first stop of this journey to visit Taiwan's South Pacific allies.