President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of March 20 attended an event to mark the founding of the Taiwan Cross-Strait Medical Interchange Association. The president expressed his hope that this organization will further cross-strait cooperation in medicine and establish a platform for communication in medical and health-related issues.
The president stated that he has worked actively to improve cross-strait relations since taking office in May 2008 so as to establish more orderly ties between the two sides. He pointed out that since 2003 mainland China has been Taiwan's largest trading partner. However, the two sides have not had systematic ties. In addition, the president commented that last year Taiwanese made five million visits to mainland China, while mainlanders made over 1.8 million visits here. Enhanced ties have generated increased medical-related issues, he said. For instance, in September 2008, the discovery of milk powder from mainland China contaminated with melamine caused panic in Taiwan. Consequently, the establishment of this private association in the wake of increasingly close ties between the two sides is necessary to foster understanding and cooperation on food, medicine, and health issues, he commented.
President Ma also spoke on the breakthroughs achieved through cross-strait negotiations. He pointed to the November 2008 signing of the Cross-Strait Food Safety Agreement and the establishment of a real-time reporting system, which have helped to ensure food safety. In addition, the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed in June of last year set standards for Taiwan medical services institutions interested in establishing independently funded hospitals in certain provinces of mainland China. Also, the sixth round of negotiations between the heads of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and mainland China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits in December of 2010 yielded the signing of a cooperative agreement on cross-strait medicine and health, which has set clear directions for medical ties between the two sides.
The president remarked that the government is currently promoting medical tourism here, hoping to employ Taiwan's abundant and high quality medical resources to provide medical services to people from overseas. According to statistics, last year about 5,000 people from mainland China came to Taiwan for tourism and medical services. The president noted that the Executive Yuan has designated this industry as one of Taiwan's six major emerging industries, and the government will continue to promote the sector and look into appropriate deregulation.
President Ma also remarked on the disasters that have engulfed a large area of Japan and affected huge numbers of people. Total donations from Taiwan to Japan have exceeded NT$1.2 billion, the president noted. As Japan is our second largest trading partner and the people of the two countries maintain close ties, the president expressed his hope that the people of Taiwan will show compassion and make donations, helping Japan to get through this difficult time. Moreover, given the proximity of Taiwan and mainland China, if a similar series of disasters unfolded closer to home the damages could be even worse. The president therefore noted the importance of disaster preparedness and rescue measures, along with cooperation between the two sides to address possible similar situations in the future, and to jointly provide emergency medical care. This, he said, will help to ensure the greatest level of wellbeing for the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.