President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of May 31, during a meeting with scholars attending The Rule of Law in Asia 2012 conference, reiterated that the government will continue to promote cross-strait interaction under the framework of the ROC Constitution, from the standpoint that the cross-strait relationship is one in which there is "one Republic of China, two areas," and on the basis of "mutual non-recognition of sovereignty and mutual non-denial of governing authority."
In remarks, the president stated that the ROC held its fifth direct presidential election on January 14 and that the successful completion of the election shows the increasing maturity of Taiwan's democracy. He said, however, that the poll did show the government that there is still work to carry out in the area of rule of law. The president also mentioned that over the past several years, mainland China has broadcast live the process of counting the votes in Taiwan's elections. In the most recent election, he said, mainlanders were not only able to see the vote-counting process, but also via the Internet could view debates between the candidates and visits by the candidates to communities throughout Taiwan. Both of these were unprecedented developments for mainlanders, he noted.
President Ma said he believes that the experience of Taiwan has proven that a democratic system can take root and develop in an ethnic Chinese society. He expressed his hopes that this development will be able to further promote a dialogue between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait with regard to democracy and the rule of law.
The president added that the government looks to the ROC Constitution as the basis from which to promote cross-strait relations and its external relationships. For example, the oath taken by the ROC president and vice president at their inauguration emphasizes adhering to the constitution, he said. This highlights the important mission of these two individuals as defenders and guardians of the constitution, he added.
President Ma emphasized that the "one Republic of China, two areas" concept is the foundation for cross-strait relations as defined by the ROC Constitution. This, he said, has enabled the government to promote cross-strait interaction on the basis of "mutual non-recognition of sovereignty and mutual non-denial of governing authority." This, the president stated, is compatible with the "1992 Consensus" of "one China, respective interpretations" that was reached between Taiwan and mainland China 20 years ago. President Ma said what has been realized over the past four years not only proves the viability of this approach to Taiwan's relations with mainland China, but also significantly increases space for the ROC to develop external relations.
The president pointed out that the government three years ago ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The content of these two documents has been incorporated into domestic law, he added, furthermore noting that in the future the government will continue to promote freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. President Ma said that the government is concerned about human rights topics both here and in mainland China, and he expressed his hopes that more rule of law seminars of this kind will be held in Taiwan. This would strengthen the exchange of mutual experiences and serve as reference for the ROC in further enhancing its democracy and rule of law, he said.
The seminar was jointly held by the National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Law and the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation of the United States. Scholars attending the conference included NTU College of Law Associate Dean Chen Tsung-Fu (陳聰富), Mansfield Foundation Deputy Executive Director David Boling, Hong Kong University Faculty of Law Professor Fu Hualing (傅華伶), University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance Dean Edna Estifania A. Co, Eun-Young Park (a partner at the South Korean law firm of Kim & Chang), Tokyo's Human Rights Now Secretary General Kazuko Ito, Nanjing University Associate Professor Zhou Changzheng (周長征), and New York University School of Law's US-Asia Law Institute research fellow Yu-Jie Chen (陳玉潔). The delegation went to the Presidential Office in the morning to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Secretary-General Hu Wei-jen (胡為真), and Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of North American Affairs Director-General Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達).