On the morning of March 20, President Ma Ying-jeou met with a delegation of academics who attended a seminar entitled "Mainland China's Reform and Transition? The Opportunities and Challenges of the Xi-Li Administration." In remarks to the group, the president stated that the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) has enabled Taiwan for the first time to truly overcome its diplomatic isolation and expand its participation in the international community. He added that in the future the government will engage in comprehensive planning and assessment and adopt appropriate methods to maintain sustainable peace and prosperity on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
At the opening of his remarks, President Ma commented that mainland China has significantly increased its political and economic influence since embarking on reform in 1978. Many places, including the ROC, have been deeply impacted by events in mainland China, he said, adding that enormous changes have been seen in East Asia as a result. President Ma noted that mainland Chinese leaders Xi Jinping (習近平) and Li Keqiang (李克強) have repeatedly emphasized the importance of economic and political reforms since taking office. The president acknowledged that while democratic reforms and reforms to encourage more equal distribution of wealth in mainland China are difficult to carry out, the ROC and the international community are still hoping that progress can be seen on these fronts.
President Ma stated that since he took office in 2008 the ROC government has consistently sought, under the framework of the ROC Constitution, to maintain the status quo of "no unification, no independence, and no use of force" in the Taiwan Strait, and to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait ties under the "1992 Consensus," whereby each side acknowledges the existence of "one China" but maintains its own interpretation of what that means. He said that institutionalized negotiations have to date yielded 21 agreements and have enabled the two sides to reach consensus on two issues. These are gradually establishing order in cross-strait ties, he stated.
President Ma emphasized that among the 21 agreements signed so far, the one with the greatest impact is the ECFA, since it has paved the way for Taiwan and its trading partners in the region to sign economic cooperation agreements that are akin to free trade accords. He noted that Taiwan is the world's 18th largest trading nation and ranks tenth among the 21 economic entities in APEC, but Taiwan's diplomatic isolation had prevented it from signing free trade agreements with its major trading partners until three years ago, when Taiwan and mainland China signed the ECFA. Following this major breakthrough, Taiwan and Japan signed the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement, and last year Taiwan signed economic cooperation agreements with New Zealand and Singapore. Furthermore, the president stated, since he took office Taiwan has participated in the World Health Assembly for five consecutive years and last year was present at the assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization. All of these developments indicate that Taiwan has achieved greater participation in the international community, he remarked.
President Ma said that prior to his taking office in 2008, Taiwan was stuck in a "vicious cycle" in its relations with mainland China and the international community. Nowadays, however, the government has found a viable path forward that has put these relationships into a "virtuous cycle." Consequently, he commented, the government will continue to pursue the development of cross-strait relations in a stable and active manner, and will also engage in comprehensive planning and assessment so that it can adopt appropriate methods to maintain sustainable peace and prosperity on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The delegation included David M. Lampton, professor and director of China Studies at the Johns Hopkins Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and Mrs. Lampton; Thomas Fingar, distinguished fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University; Nicholas R. Lardy, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics; and Wang Jenn-hwan (王振寰), chair professor and director of the Center of China Studies at National Chengchi University.