President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of October 22 with the delegation from Taiwan that will attend the 9th Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum. In addition to recognizing the important contributions of the forum over the years to cross-strait ties, the president also expressed hope that the delegation will convey the viewpoints of the government here and continue to work on broadening and deepening the cross-strait relationship.
In remarks, President Ma noted that this marks the ninth year of the forum, which originated from a visit by then Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) to mainland China in April 2005. Mr. Lien held discussions with then mainland Chinese leader Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and the two reached a consensus on the "Five Points of the Common Vision." The president said that this forum constitutes the longest running private interaction between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and the participants represent a wide spectrum of society. In addition, the forum has resulted in many achievements, he remarked. Besides inviting members of various parties to participate in the forum, government agencies also dispatch officials to attend. He said this helps to ensure that the suggestions reached at the forum are feasible and pragmatic, and will further strengthen the relationship between the two sides.
President Ma mentioned that in May 2008 Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) led the delegation from Taiwan to the mainland, which set the stage for the two sides to resume negotiations on June 11 of the same year. The two sides reached important resolutions on June 13 to institute direct cross-strait transportation and to allow mainland Chinese to visit Taiwan. This marked the resumption of institutionalized negotiations between the two sides after a 10-year hiatus, and the results have been particularly fruitful, he said.
President Ma stressed that since he took office five years ago, the government has conducted cross-strait relations under the framework of the ROC Constitution and in accordance with the status quo of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force," while promoting peace on the basis of the "1992 Consensus," whereby each side acknowledges the existence of "one China" but maintains its own interpretation of what that means. In cross-strait ties, the president said, the government addresses "pressing matters before less pressing ones, easy matters before difficult ones, and economic matters before political ones." The third round of Chiang-Chen talks in 2009, for example, brought the signing of the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, which touches on governing authority and jurisdiction. These issues have a degree of political sensitivity, he acknowledged. However, combating increasingly serious cross-strait crime is an extremely urgent matter, so the two sides signed the agreement. Subsequent law enforcement cooperation has resulted in a sharp drop in the number of scams here and effectively reduced the losses suffered by the public. President Ma mentioned that after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, the two sides in October 2011 signed the Agreement on Cross-Strait Nuclear Power Safety Cooperation, thereby establishing a nuclear energy information reporting mechanism. Accordingly, under the principle of "putting Taiwan first for the benefit of the people," the government will not set limits or avoid politically sensitive topics. He said he also hopes that the Taiwan delegation to the upcoming event will convey the government's stance in this regard.
President Ma also pointed to the example of cross-strait representative offices. The president said these would be politically neutral, but the topic of setting them up is political in nature. The ROC government will not evade this topic, but will continue to carry out related negotiations, he remarked. The representative offices would provide services and handle general affairs, and would not be involved in foreign affairs or consular activities, he said. To be sure, the president commented, while the issue would be political in nature, "we will reduce the level of politics involved." President Ma also expressed worry that if a result cannot be achieved on this front, it will be more difficult in the future to put higher level political issues on the table. In particular, he said, there are nearly nine million cross-strait trips made each year, and 670 cross-straight flights each week, or about 95 flights per day. Taiwan carriers serve 54 airports in mainland China, while mainland carriers fly to 10 airports in Taiwan. Developments in this respect are unprecedented, the president stated, adding that this further shows that having representative offices would be very beneficial to cross-strait ties.
As for the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement, President Ma clarified, during the year prior to the signing of the accord, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other entities engaged in 114 rounds of negotiations with 46 types of service industries, 264 trade association representatives. These talks were held both on a closed-door basis and also in small seminars. At the time, he said, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were still involved in negotiations on the agreement and therefore it was impossible for the government to publicly divulge its content. But this doesn't mean that the negotiations were held "under the table," the president commented. In addition, he noted, after the agreement was signed on June 21 of this year, all related information was immediately made public so that all sectors of society could review it on the Internet. The president said that the government hopes the Legislative Yuan will hasten its review of the agreement, as this would be beneficial to the signing of the Cross-Strait Trade in Goods Agreement and the inking of economic cooperation agreements with other countries.
President Ma reiterated that in his Double Tenth National Day Address he mentioned that cross-strait relations are not international relations. According to the ROC Constitution, he said, the Republic of China is a sovereign nation and the Chinese mainland is still part of the ROC's territory. Consequently, the relationship with mainland China cannot be an international relationship, but rather is a special relationship. The president pointed to cross-strait transportation links as an example. Twenty years ago, he said, the routes between Taiwan and mainland China were designated "not international routes and not domestic routes, but a type of special route," and were therefore called "cross-strait routes." The president stated that the two sides have therefore quickly enhanced their relationship based on this foundation.
President Ma also expressed hope that the holding of the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum, the establishment of mutual representative offices, and a comprehensive review and amendment of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area will move cross-strait ties move forward in a stable manner and lead to a broader and deeper relationship. He said he hopes that the delegation will convey the viewpoints of the government and that the upcoming forum will be a successful one.
Taiwan's delegation to the forum includes KMT Honorary Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung, KMT Vice Chairmen Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正) and Chiang Hsiao-yen(蔣孝嚴), KMT Deputy Secretary General Lin Teh-jui (林德瑞), KMT Central Advisory Committee Member Lee Chien-jung (李建榮), National Policy Foundation President Tsai Cheng-wen (蔡政文), and People United Party Chairwoman Hsu Jung-shu (許榮淑). The group met with the president at the Presidential Office. Also attending the meeting were Secretary-General to the President Timothy Chin-Tien Yang (楊進添) and National Security Council Advisor Chiu Kun-shuan (邱坤玄).