President Ma Ying-jeou, in the company of Vice President Vincent C. Siew, met on the morning of November 16 at the Presidential Office with Taiwan's delegation to the 2010 APEC Economic Leaders' Week. The president congratulated the group on its achievements during the series of meetings, and expressed his appreciation for their hard work.
The president commented that the theme of this year's APEC proceedings was "Change and Action," which he said perfectly reflects development trends in the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole. The topics of this year's discussions shared two key points in common—first, they must be approached from the standpoint of all of mankind, and second, global cooperation is required. The talks covered climate change, prevention of H1N1 influenza, and anti-terrorism. Meanwhile, considerable time was spent on the subject of an APEC free trade zone. In this regard, Lien Chan, President Ma's representative at the event, provided a clear indication at a press conference of Taiwan's position with respect to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
President Ma commended Mr. Lien for his excellent display of diplomatic acumen during the meetings. He added that representatives from Taiwan's business community were very active during the proceedings, helping to leave other nations with a strong impression of Taiwan. The president said he hopes related government agencies will continue working to build up experience, collect information, and identify opportunities for cooperation by taking part in conferences focusing on regional integration. This will afford Taiwan greater room to develop in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.
Mr. Lien stated that in addition to the considerable benefits reaped from participation in formal meetings, Taiwan's delegation also held side meetings and informal discussions with quite a few economic entities, which he said will help to add depth to bilateral substantive relationships. He added that Taiwan was included in the list of countries covered in the Report on APEC's 2010 Economies' Progress Towards the Bogor Goals, and the report found that our nation has done quite well in meeting the goals, especially winning recognition for its economic and trade liberalization and degree of openness. Japan, the host nation, tabled the topic of growth, which covers a wide range of areas, including reducing the digital divide, assisting small- and medium-sized enterprises, and ensuring preparedness for natural disasters. Taiwan was in the forefront of all of these issues and even provided other APEC members with quite a bit of assistance, he said.
Mr. Lien held a press conference at the Presidential Building after the meeting with the president and vice president, and on behalf of the delegation explained what transpired during the APEC proceedings. He also answered questions from reporters.
In his remarks, Mr. Lien said that the 18th APEC summit was a success. Besides attending the AELM, the APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM), and the Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM), the Taiwan delegation also engaged in dialogue and interaction with corporate leaders from throughout the region and held various bilateral meetings, he said.
Mr. Lien said that the main objectives of this year's meetings were to review the results of our efforts to achieve the liberalization called for in the Bogor Goals, look ahead to the post-financial crisis era, examine growth strategies among economic entities in the Asia-Pacific region, review the results of WTO’s Doha Development Round, and address issues such as natural disasters facing the world and the safety and security of food supplies. He stated that Taiwan's representatives participated actively at each level of the proceedings (AELM, AMM, SOM) and provided concrete opinions, winning the respect of other delegations.
Taiwan's delegation to the meetings included Mr. Lien (Leader's Representative), Lee Sush-Der (Consultant to the Leader’s Representative, and Minister of Finance), Yen-Shiang Shih (Consultant to the Leader's Representative, and Minister of Economic Affairs), Stephen S. F. Chen (National Policy Advisor to the President, and former ROC Representative to the United States), Chang Chang-pang (CEO of the Lien Chan Foundation for Peace and Development), Lin Ming-cheng (Chairman of Hua Nan Financial Holdings), Jason C. S. Lin (CEO, Uni-President Enterprises Corp.), Shin-Kun Peng (Director, Academia Sinica Institute of Economics), Hung-Jen Wang (Director, Department of Economics, National Taiwan University), two Chinese Taipei representatives to the APEC Business Advisory Committee (MiTAC-SYNNEX Group Chairman Matthew F. C. Miau, and VIA Technologies Chairwoman Cher Wang), National Security Council Advisor Tung Kuo-yu, and Government Information Office Minister Johnny Chi-chen Chiang. The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Chin-tien Yang to meet President Ma and Vice President Siew. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Secretary-General Hu Wei-jen.