President Ma Ying-jeou met with United States Senator Roland Burris and several of his aides on the morning of August 19 at the Presidential Office. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, extended a warm welcome to Senator Burris on his visit to Taiwan.
The president remarked that Senator Burris has enormous experience in the political arena. In 2008, he was appointed to take over the Senate seat left vacant after Barack Obama's election as president. Senator Burris is the third African-American senator in U.S. history and is presently the only African-American senator. President Ma said that Senator Burris has always been friendly to the ROC. The president noted that Mr. Burris had visited Taiwan in the 1990s in his capacity as Attorney General of the State of Illinois, and that it is a pleasure to see him come back once again, this time as a US senator. President Ma expressed his desire to see an enhanced bilateral relationship featuring greater levels of trade, investment, educational exchanges, and mutual judicial assistance.
The president said he hopes the United States will seriously consider selling Taiwan F-16C/D series jet fighters in order to maintain a military balance between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. President Ma stressed that since taking office he has continually sought to use peaceful means in handling cross-strait disputes, thereby reducing tension in the Taiwan Strait. The procurement of arms, he said, helps to strengthen Taiwan's ability to defend itself.
President Ma stated that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have signed 14 agreements, and on August 18 the Legislative Yuan passed the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and accompanying legislation. After the ECFA takes effect on January 1 of 2011, tariffs on 539 Taiwan products and 267 mainland Chinese products will be reduced to zero over the next two years. At the same time, the two sides have signed an agreement on the protection of intellectual property rights, and further negotiations will be held in the future. In addition, the president mentioned that on August 5 Taiwan and Singapore jointly announced the possibility of negotiating and signing an economic cooperation agreement, and that talks on the accord are expected to commence in the second half of this year. He said that Taiwan is very grateful for the assistance the United States has rendered to Taiwan in the effort to accelerate its globalization and strengthen its international competitiveness. President Ma also commented that he hopes that Taiwan and the United States will engage in further bilateral investment and trade negotiations under a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.
Senator Burris, the senator's Deputy Chief of Staff James O'Connor, and his Legislative Director Kenneth Montoya were accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Deputy Foreign Minister Lyushun Shen to meet with President Ma. Also attending the meeting were William A. Stanton, Director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan, and National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Chih-kung Liu.