President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of May 24 with former Governor of the US State of Florida Jeb Bush. The president extended a welcome to former Governor Bush on behalf of the government and people of the ROC and reiterated the government's continued embrace of a "low key, no surprises" policy in interacting with the United States. He added that Taiwan is striving to resume negotiations under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the hope of further expanding the bilateral trade and investment relationship between the two countries.
In remarks, the president commented that former Governor Bush comes from a distinguished political family, with both his father George H. W. Bush and his brother George W. Bush having served as president of the United States. President Ma noted that former Governor Bush studied Latin American affairs during his university years and that his wife is Mexican-born. Former Governor Bush, he said, was extremely popular in Florida, a state with a large Latino population. During his two terms as governor that spanned from 1999 to 2007, he strived to promote education and health care reform, President Ma said, adding that the former governor's diligence and love for the people of Florida earned him an enormous level of support.
President Ma stated that Taiwan and the United States have a deep friendship. President George H. W. Bush in 1992 agreed to the sale of 150 F-16A/B fighter jets to Taiwan, which was an enormous help in bolstering Taiwan's defense capabilities, the president said. The government here is currently planning to enhance the performance of its F-16A/B fighter jets to approximate the performance of the F-16C/D series. In addition, President Ma said that four years ago when he was elected president, he received a congratulatory message from then President George W. Bush, who praised Taiwan as "a beacon of democracy to Asia and the world." The former president also stated that the United States would do all it could to help Taiwan maintain the ability to defend itself, President Ma remarked, saying that both of these statements deeply touched the people of Taiwan.
The president explained that since taking office in 2008, he has strived to build a relationship between Taiwan and the United States based on trust at the highest levels. At the same time, Taiwan has embraced a "low key, no surprises" policy in interacting with the United States, and has signed 16 agreements with mainland China, reducing tension and promoting the development of prosperity and security on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. In light of this, the United States last October agreed to sell a package of arms to Taiwan. In addition, last November US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton while in Honolulu attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meetings publicly stated that Taiwan is an important security and economic partner of the United States. This, President Ma stated, shows that Taiwan-US relations have progressed considerably.
President Ma also said that after two years of efforts, Taiwan expects that the United States will formally include Taiwan in its Visa Waiver Program in the second half of this year. Based on past experience, he said, the granting of visa-free treatment will undoubtedly spark a large increase in the number of visitors from Taiwan. The president also reiterated Taiwan's desire to work to resolve the issue of US beef imports, and called for resumption of negotiations under the TIFA framework in an effort to bolster the bilateral trade and investment relationship.
Former Governor Bush was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Taiwan Representative to the US Jason C. Yuan (袁健生) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Philip Y. M. Yang (楊永明).