President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of June 6 took part in a road run that started at the plaza in front of the Presidential Office Building that was sponsored by the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. The president personally encouraged all of the runners participating in the event to do their best, and he also took part in aerobic warm-ups in the plaza with others getting ready for the run. After warming up, President Ma was accompanied by Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee President Tsai Chen-wei and Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling in firing the starting gun to kick off the 10-kilometer competition and the three-kilometer family run. The president then joined in the run.
Addressing the crowd before the beginning of the event, President Ma said that this marks the 23rd year that the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee has sponsored this run, and the event has become one of the most important on the calendar for Taipei City each year. This year, he said, the run is also being used to promote the upcoming Taipei International Flora Exposition. This will be the first time that Taipei has hosted the expo, which will run for six months. A total of 45 nations will participate in the event, and the various displays will cover about 92 hectares, including the Yuanshan Park area, the Fine Arts Park area, the Xinsheng Park area, and the Dajia Riverside Park area. President Ma remarked that the flora expo is anticipated to draw more than eight million people and that some 2.58 million tickets have already been sold. He expressed his confidence that this will without a doubt successfully market Taiwan on the international stage. He urged everyone to support the upcoming event.
After the conclusion of the run, the president headed to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to inspect the facility. Accompanied by Transportation and Communications Minister Mao Chi-kuo, Taoyuan County Magistrate John Chih-Yang Wu, and former Vice Premier Eric Chu, the president received a briefing from the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) on plans for future development for the airport and the status of various plans. The president then personally inspected various projects after the conclusion of the briefing.
President Ma remarked that substantial growth has been seen in the number of passengers and volume of cargo moving through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport over the past year. In particular, he said, the pace of growth at the airport has been the strongest among Asia's four tigers, adding his congratulations to related agencies for helping to achieve this performance.
The president said that planning related to the Taoyuan Aerotropolis must take into consideration challenges facing the global economy. He noted that back when he was running for the presidency, he unveiled three major objectives, namely of turning Taiwan into (1) a global center for innovation, (2) a hub for trade in the Asia-Pacific, and (3) an operational headquarters for Taiwan companies and a regional headquarters for foreign firms. The president said that Taiwan should use its advantageous location in the heart of East Asia and ride this current wave of growth to enhance its competitiveness in the global economy.
In response to concerns about an overlap in the functions of the international airport in Taoyuan and Taipei's Songshan Airport, the president pointed out that the two airports are not in competition against each other. Songshan Airport covers a relatively small area and its runways are shorter. In addition, the residential density in the vicinity of the airport puts limitations on the facility. Songshan Airport, he said, must develop its own characteristics and play a supporting role. When needed, it can serve as an alternate airport. In terms of dividing the responsibilities of the two facilities, the president said that an important concept in developing Taiwan into a trading hub in the Asia-Pacific is for Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to serve as the area's main airport, and Songshan Airport to act as a supplementary one.
President Ma noted that the construction of the Wugu-Yangmei freeway began last year and that the airport rail line that will link Taipei and the airport is under construction. Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is expected to achieve enormous growth in passengers and cargo volume over the coming 10 to 20 years, he said, adding that the expansion of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project could result from the Golden Decade Flagship Project. The president stated that we still need to hasten our pace, enabling Taiwan's international airports to reach the standards of those in Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea.
With regard to the original design for the airport rail to move people between Taipei and the airport in 35 minutes, the president said he hoped that express service will be offered on this mass rapid transit line. A flexible design in which express and local trains operate the route would reduce the time needed to get between the two points and would boost the willingness of people to give up driving to the airport and take the train instead, the president said. In addition, he said, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport has become a transfer point for many Indians when traveling to the United States. He said that in an effort to attract more transit passengers from other nations, the airport could refer to the business centers offered by major hotels, providing audio-visual facilities and conference rooms. The president also said that the airport should look into bringing in more restaurants that serve Taiwanese snacks so that more people have the opportunity to sample the culinary treats of Taiwan. He stated that an overall raise in airport service standards would without a doubt attract more international transit passengers.
The president also said that he hopes to see a third terminal completed at the airport as soon as possible to enable Taiwan to become an Asia-Pacific trade hub. This would also help to boost foreign investment here and encourage private investment as well. The government, he said, will act to create business opportunities by facilitating the raising of capital to fund airport construction. The president pointed out that with the commencement of direct cross-strait flights and the sharp increase in the number of mainland Chinese tourists to Taiwan, hoteliers at Sun Moon Lake have been renovating their properties and building new hotels. Meanwhile, the president has asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to increase the number of cross-strait charter flights in order to meet market needs and thereby further reduce ticket prices.
President Ma stressed that the Taoyuan Aerotropolis will be very important to the coming golden decade of prosperity for Taiwan, and will trigger enormous business opportunities. He added that after the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and mainland China, Taiwan's economic and trade position in the world will be different. Consequently, the international airport must reach the standards required in an evaluation carried out by Airports Council International (ACI). Achieving this goal would cause competitor airports to look at our international airport in a whole new light. Most importantly, he said, we are presently in a race against time. We need to do our best to make up for all the time we have lost in the past. He said there can be no more procrastination, and called upon the central and local governments to work together. If they do so, the president said he is confident about prospects for Taiwan.