President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of September 5 with a delegation from the United Kingdom's All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group (APPLRG). In addition to discussing plans for cooperation and interaction between Taiwan and the UK, the president also called for continued strengthening of the bilateral friendship and cooperative relations in a variety of areas.
At the beginning of the meeting, President Ma extended his congratulations on the birth of Prince George of Cambridge on July 22 by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Prince George thus becomes third in the line to the throne, behind Prince Charles and Prince William. The president also said that upon learning of the news, he immediately sent a personal message of congratulations to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He noted that he would like to take the opportunity of today's meeting to further extend congratulations on behalf of the people of the Republic of China.
President Ma stated that Taiwan and the United Kingdom have enjoyed frequent interaction in recent years. To date, the two countries have signed 18 agreements and memoranda, he said, covering a wide range of fields including public health, banking, education, culture, and technical cooperation. Furthermore, he pointed out, the United Kingdom in 2009 was the first nation in the European Union to grant ROC nationals visa-free courtesies. Since that move, the number of short-term visits to the United Kingdom by Taiwanese has risen, reaching over 93,000 in 2012, he said. At the same time, the Youth Mobility Scheme between the two countries went into formal implementation in January of last year, enabling youth from Taiwan to go to the United Kingdom for working holidays. The president said that each year, demand far exceeds the supply of 1,000 spots in the program, which indicates that it has been an enormous hit.
President Ma further stated that Taiwan's aggregate investment in the United Kingdom has reached US$555 million, making that nation the second most popular destination for investment from Taiwan in Europe. The president also noted that the United Kingdom is Taiwan's third largest trading partner in Europe, with bilateral trade reaching US$6.9 billion in 2012, up by 5.48% from the previous year and a new record high. He pointed out that trade between the two countries continued to grow last year despite the global economic downturn.
The president mentioned that in addition to economic and trade ties, tourism, and youth exchanges, the two countries also cooperate in the area of transportation. As one example, he stated, Mike Penning, then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, made a visit to Taiwan in May of last year. Meanwhile, in June of this year, the two countries signed two memoranda of understanding on cooperation in the area of rail transportation. The president commented that Member of Parliament John Leech, the Chairman of the Light Rail Group, is leading a delegation to Taiwan to better understand Taiwan's mass rapid transit and high-speed rail infrastructure. This visit is sure to enhance the cooperative relationship in the area of rail transportation, he said.
In discussing cross-strait policy, the president explained that after he was elected president in 2008, he immediately began taking action to promote a "viable diplomacy" policy and actively work to improve relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. To date, he said, the two sides have signed 19 agreements, including the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. The president stated that the two sides have also established an institutionalized negotiation mechanism, adding that all of this progress has brought relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to their best state in the past 60 years.
President Ma further mentioned that Taiwan and New Zealand on July 10 of this year signed the Agreement between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation (ANZTEC). In addition, negotiations between Taiwan and Singapore on an economic cooperation agreement have also entered the final stages. This shows that improved cross-strait relations have made other countries more willing to sign economic cooperation agreements with Taiwan, he said, expressing hope that the British government will look at the cross-strait relationship in a new light. He commented that the improvement in cross-strait ties will not impact the relationship between the United Kingdom and mainland China, and in fact creates greater room for the enhancement of relations between Taiwan and the United Kingdom. He stated that he hopes this will lead to a further strengthening of trade and investment between the two countries.
With respect to the issue of sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islets, President Ma remarked, he unveiled his East China Sea Peace Initiative on August 5, 2012 to maintain peace in the East China Sea. He stated that the basic tenet of this initiative is that although sovereignty over national territory cannot be compromised, natural resources can be shared. The president cited the example of the North Sea, where a similar dispute once occurred. However, the parties decided to resolve the sovereignty dispute by sharing resources. Cooperation, he said, has thus brought advantages to all involved. President Ma said that on April 10 of this year, Taiwan and Japan signed a fisheries agreement, resolving a 40-year dispute. He added that this is an example of the East China Sea Peace Initiative being acted upon. The president said he was particularly pleased that Lord Faulkner of Worcester and Lord Steel of Aikwood, the co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary British-Taiwanese Group, in November of last year expressed their support for this initiative in a letter that was signed by 100 members of the group.
Today's delegation included Members of Parliament Iain Stewart, Ronnie Campbell, Stephen Hepburn, Mike Crockart, and Jim McGovern. The group was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Director Christopher Terence Wood of the British Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Francis Yi-Hua Kan (甘逸驊).