President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of September 20 with Christopher J. Marut, the new director of the American Institute in Taiwan's (AIT) Taipei Office. The president, on behalf of the government and people of Taiwan, welcomed Director Marut to Taiwan to take up his new post and expressed his hopes that Director Marut will help to continue bolstering friendship and building a partnership between Taiwan and the United States.
In remarks, the president said that Director Marut is a senior diplomat with a career that spans 27 years. He has previously been dispatched to posts in Malaysia, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei, and has also served at the US State Department in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP), where he has worked for the EAP Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, the EAP Office of Regional and Security Policy, and the EAP Office of Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Affairs. The president remarked that Director Marut has a comprehensive background and is known as an expert on Asia-Pacific affairs in the US foreign service system.
President Ma stated that in the two years prior to coming to Taiwan, Director Marut served as Director of the EAP Office of Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Affairs. In that position, he was instrumental in the promotion of the US policy of "Rebalancing toward Asia." Director Marut's position in that initiative shows the important role he has played in America's Asia-Pacific policy, the president stated. Furthermore, his selection as director of AIT's Taipei Office again demonstrates the importance of the relationship between the United States and the ROC, the president added.
President Ma remarked that since assuming office four years ago, he has taken a "low key, no surprises" approach to the relationship between the two countries, and noted that the two sides engage in ample communication prior to the public announcement of major policies. Efforts in this regard over the past four years have successfully re-established mutual trust between the two nations at the highest levels and significantly improved the bilateral relationship. The president pointed out that over US$18.4 billion of arms sales to Taiwan have been approved under current President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush, which constitutes the highest amount over the past decade.
The president furthermore stated that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the APEC Economic Cooperation Leaders' Week held in Honolulu, Hawaii last November delivered an address at the East-West Center in which she stressed that Taiwan is an important security and economic partner of the United States. These statements were heartening to the people of Taiwan, the president said. In addition, besides cooperation in the areas of military security as well as economic and trade ties, the two sides cooperate closely in fighting against terrorism, nuclear proliferation, maritime piracy, drug transshipment, and human trafficking. The two nations have also been working together to implement export controls and respond to climate change. All of these are non-traditional security issues, the president stated.
President Ma also expressed his appreciation to the United States for its resolute support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in international activities and organizations, including the World Health Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The president specially noted that US Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius during last year's World Health Assembly stated at a press conference that "no organization of the UN has a right to unilaterally determine the position of Taiwan." This statement, the president said, has done much to raise Taiwan's international status.
In discussing the trade and economic relationship between the two countries, President Ma stated that the United States is Taiwan's third largest trading partner, and bilateral trade last year reached US$67 billion. The president explained that talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) between the two countries have stalled in recent years due to the issue of US beef imports to Taiwan, but after much effort and communication, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan at an extraordinary session in July passed amendments to the Act Governing Food Sanitation that set forth tolerance levels for the feed additive ractopamine in American beef. The amendments were formally announced in the middle of September. Consequently, Mr. Lien Chan (連戰) and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reached a consensus during the recent AELM held in Vladivostok, Russia that the two sides should resume preparatory work for TIFA negotiations as soon as possible in order to further strengthen the bilateral cooperative relationship in the area of trade and economics, he said.
The president also stated that the resumption of TIFA negotiations will not only enable the international community to see that Taiwan is a credible trading partner, but also will help to create the conditions for Taiwan to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the future. Even though Taiwan faces difficulty in joining the TPP at the present stage, Taiwan is presently in negotiations with Singapore on the Agreement between Singapore and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Partnership, and with New Zealand on an economic cooperation agreement. Successful talks on these two accords, coupled with the resumption of TIFA negotiations with the United States, will help to create the conditions for Taiwan to join the TPP, the president said. Meanwhile, Taiwan will also actively pursue opportunities to participate in economic integration with other countries in the Asian region.
President Ma stated that a string of visits to Taiwan by high-ranking American officials indicates the importance that the United States places on the bilateral relationship and the strong level of mutual trust between the two countries at the highest levels. These visits, including trips here last year by United States Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah and Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, and visits this year by the US Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator Dawn L. McCall and Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs Jose W. Fernandez, show that relations between Taiwan and the United States are the most stable and friendliest that they have been in the past 30 years, the president remarked.
The president also expressed his hopes that Director Marut will help to usher in an even closer friendship and partnership between Taiwan and the United States, as well as strengthen bilateral interaction and cooperation in a wide variety of fields.
Director Marut was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tung Kuoyu (董國猷) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Philip Y. M. Yang (楊永明).