President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of December 14 with Professor Jerome A. Cohen, co-director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at the New York University School of Law. The president praised Professor Cohen for his long-term contributions to research on the legal systems of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and reiterated the ROC's principle regarding the territorial dispute over the Diaoyutai Islets, i.e. although sovereignty over national territory cannot be compromised, natural resources can be shared. He also expressed his hope that this peaceful method will help to resolve the dispute.
In remarks, the president stated that Professor Cohen is a noted scholar in the fields of East Asian law and Asia studies, and is also an authority on mainland Chinese and Taiwan law. Professor Cohen, he said, has pre-eminent standing in these fields, and deserves tremendous respect for the considerable work he has done in recent years on the study of comparative law among Asian nations and efforts to reform the rule of law in mainland China.
The president stated that in the upcoming final three years of his presidency, he will strive to expand and strengthen ties between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. He remarked that he will also address the issue of each side establishing cross-strait representative offices, and he intends to carry out a comprehensive review of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area. President Ma mentioned that this year during the 20th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, his envoy to the event, Mr. Lien Chan (連戰), and then-mainland Chinese leader Hu Jintao held discussions that touched upon Taiwan's desire to participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization. Mr. Hu responded favorably, he said. President Ma expressed his hope that the development of peace between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will help Taiwan gain more opportunities to participate in international affairs.
President Ma stressed that in the half-year since he was inaugurated for another term in office on May 20 of this year, relations between Taiwan and the United States have seen substantive progress, including Taiwan's resumption of US beef imports and work to prepare for the re-start of negotiations under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. At the same time, Taiwan was formally included in the US Visa Waiver Program on November 1, making the ROC the 37th country in the world to join the program, and the only one with which the United States does not maintain formal diplomatic relations. The president commented that this breakthrough will be extremely beneficial to the development of two-way tourism as well as bilateral trade and economic ties. In addition, Taiwan and the United States cooperate closely in the fight against such problems as human trafficking and terrorism, which points to the friendly relations between the two countries, he commented.
With respect to the sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyutai Islets, President Ma stated, in order to resolve heightened tensions resulting from this controversy, on August 5 of this year he unveiled his East China Sea Peace Initiative, which is based on the principle that although the ROC's sovereignty over the Diaoyutais cannot be compromised, natural resources can be shared. He expressed his hopes that this dispute can be peacefully resolved through negotiations. President Ma stated that a variety of methods can be used to resolve this issue, including litigating it before the International Court of Justice, submitting it to international arbitration, or holding three sets of bilateral negotiations among the parties involved (mainland China and Japan, Japan and Taiwan, and Taiwan and mainland China) followed by trilateral talks. The president acknowledged that while no concrete response has been made to his proposals, the academic community and media in the United States have both supported the initiative proposed by Taiwan.
Professor Cohen was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary General Gary Song-Huann Lin (林松煥) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were Secretary-General to the President Timothy Chin-tien Yang (楊進添) and National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Philip Y. M. Yang (楊永明).