During a meeting on the morning of May 15 with a delegation visiting Taiwan from the US State of Kentucky, President Ma Ying-jeou remarked that the government is working to resolve differences between Taiwan and the United States on the import of US beef. He also expressed his hopes that Taiwan and the United States will be able to engage in discussions on free trade issues as soon as possible.
In remarks, the president stated that mutual trust has gradually been restored at the highest levels between the two countries in recent years and that avenues for communication between the two sides are quite smooth. He also pointed out that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last year publicly stated that the ROC is an important security and economic partner of the United States, and affirmed that this relationship is quite strong.
In turning the discussion to economic and trade topics between Taiwan and the United States, the president expressed his desire for a speedy resumption in negotiations on trade and investment between the two sides under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). President Ma reiterated that the government will continue striving to create the conditions to enable Taiwan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) within the next eight years. He emphasized Taiwan's desire to take part in regional economic integration and to avoid being marginalized.
President Ma pointed out to the delegation that Taiwan is the 10th largest trading partner of the United States, while the United States is Taiwan's third largest trading partner, which highlights the close relationship between the two. The US government, he said, toward the end of last year announced that it was designating Taiwan as a candidate for inclusion in the US Visa Waiver Program (VWA) and that the people here are hoping that Taiwan will formally be included in the initiative in the second half of this year. President Ma pointed to the example of the United Kingdom, saying that the number of Taiwan travelers visiting the UK rose 150% in the year after that nation granted Taiwan visa-free courtesies. Meanwhile, the number of Taiwan visitors to Europe rose over 40% after the European Union also granted visa-free treatment to Taiwan visitors. This demonstrates that visa-free treatment can help to directly promote tourism and in a big way, he said. The president expressed his hopes that the United States will also adopt a similar policy, saying that inclusion of Taiwan into the Visa Waiver Program will help to further promote mutual interaction.
The president also mentioned that Taiwan is Kentucky's 13th largest export market, with exports from Kentucky to Taiwan last year reaching over US$280 million. Kentucky, he said, has consistently been quite friendly to Taiwan. In addition to designating October 10, 2011 as "ROC Day" in Kentucky, that state's legislature also passed a resolution that supports Taiwan's participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Civil Aviation Organization. The president specially pointed out that this year marks the 30th anniversary of a sister state arrangement between Taiwan and Kentucky, which makes this visit to Taiwan by the delegation from Kentucky all the more meaningful. President Ma concluded his remarks by saying he hopes that the visitors will continue to support Taiwan and help to forge an even closer relationship between the two.
The delegation, which was headed by Kentucky Governor Steven L. Beshear, was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Deputy Director Eric H. Madison of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Taipei Office to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Chih-kung Liu (劉志攻), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tung Kuoyu (董國猷), and Bruce J. D. Linghu (令狐榮達), Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of North American Affairs.