President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of February 12 with a delegation led by Premier of Canada's Province of Prince Edward Island Robert W. J. Ghiz. The president explained to the guests the substantive achievements of Taiwan-Canada cooperation in the areas of culture, economics, and trade. He also expressed hope that Canada will assist Taiwan in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), helping to create a win-win economic situation for both countries.
In remarks, President Ma stated that Premier Ghiz is the second standing provincial premier from Canada invited by Taiwan government to lead a delegation here, with the first being in 1994 when then Premier of New Brunswick Frank McKenna visited Taiwan. The president said that the members of this delegation will discuss possible cooperation projects with their Taiwan counterparts in the areas of economics and trade, education as well as tourism. He noted that Prince Edward Island Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry John MacQuarrie has also been invited to visit by the Bliss and Wisdom Foundation here, and that he has led representatives from the agricultural products industry on a 10-day trip to Taiwan.
President Ma stated that Prince Edward Island has enormous agricultural and fishing resources, and it also boasts a well-developed tourism industry. Under the leadership of Premier Ghiz, he said, Prince Edward Island in recent years has actively promoted development of the biotechnology and aerospace technology industries. This has enabled the province to post the best economic growth in eastern Canada, he commented.
As for relations between Taiwan and Canada, President Ma explained to the visitors that the two countries exchanged representative offices in 1991, following which bilateral relations saw considerable progress. For instance, he said, four different delegations of Canadian parliamentarians visited Taiwan last year. Among these, current Minister of State John Duncan led an all-party delegation of parliamentarians, comprising 25 senators and members of the House of Commons. In addition, nearly 100,000 overseas compatriots from Taiwan reside in Canada, the president noted, adding that Canada is the fifth most popular destination for Taiwanese students when studying overseas. All of these examples point to the extremely close bilateral relationship, he stated.
President Ma further stated that in 2010 Taiwan and Canada signed a youth working holiday agreement, and to date some 3,700 young people from Taiwan have gone to Canada on working holidays. He also remarked that in the same year, the Canadian government announced its decision to grant visa-free entry to ROC nationals, which subsequently resulted in about a 17% increase in the number of Taiwanese making visits to the nation. Taiwan now stands as Canada's seventh largest source of tourists, he said. The president stated that last year the two sides signed a new aviation agreement that allows the number of flights from Taiwan to Canada to increase to 17 each week, and this number is expected to rise to 21 in 2015. President Ma expressed confidence that this will be extremely beneficial in the development of tourism and economic relations between the two sides.
In the area of economic and trade relations, the president cited data showing that bilateral trade in each of the past two years has reached nearly C$6 billion. This has made Taiwan Canada's 14th largest trading partner in the world and its fourth largest in Asia, behind only mainland China, Japan, and Korea, he said. In addition, the president noted, at the ninth annual Canada-Taiwan Economic Consultations, the two sides discussed the signing of an avoidance of double taxation agreement and an investment promotion and protection agreement. In addition, both sides are gradually examining related issues in this regard, he said.
As for the issue of Taiwan's imports of Canadian beef on the bone, which has been a closely-followed topic among many sectors, President Ma stressed that Taiwan sent experts and scholars to Canada on four occasions to understand the production methods of the beef industry. Taiwan then decided to refer to the experience of other nations and allow imports of Canadian beef on the bone and related products from cattle that are less than 30 months old, he said. All of these products conform to international standards set forth by the World Organisation for Animal Health and the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). These steps, the president remarked, ensure that there will be no health concerns associated with the consumption of Canadian beef.
The president then turned the topic to the development of relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. He mentioned that over the past five years, the cross-strait relations have seen substantive progress. Besides the signing of 19 agreements, representatives from the two sides are currently negotiating an agreement on the trade of goods, he said. At the same time, the Executive Yuan's Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-Chi (王郁琦) has traveled to the other side to meet with his counterpart, mainland China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍). This marks the first time in 65 years since each side of the Taiwan Strait came under the rule of different governments in 1949 that officials from the respective agencies responsible for cross-strait affairs have formally met and referred to each other by their official titles, the president remarked. He hailed this as an important milestone in the history of cross-strait interaction, saying that this creates a new foundation for the long-term development of cross-strait relations. The president also said this will be conducive to Taiwan continuing to expand its relations in the international arena.
Lastly, President Ma emphasized that this year will be a breakthrough year for Taiwan's economy, as well as a year in which the economy sprints forward. He expressed hope that Taiwan will continue to create the conditions needed to enter the TPP and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The president particularly pointed out that as Canada has already entered the TPP, Taiwan hopes that Canada will assist Taiwan in joining the agreement, which would help Taiwan from being marginalized amid the trend towards regional economic integration. At the same time, President Ma stated, Taiwan is willing to sign an investment agreement with Canada, which would help promote bilateral trade and investment and further firm up the competitiveness of the two countries.