President Ma Ying-jeou departed Taipei at 10:00 p.m. on June 29 (Taipei time) to attend the inauguration of Panamanian President-elect Juan Carlos Varela and visit El Salvador. Shortly after take-off, the president addressed the delegation members, explaining the itinerary for this trip and what he hopes to accomplish.
President Ma said he was extremely pleased to be able to go overseas again, this time for seven days on a trip slated to cover more than 34,000 kilometers. The president stated that the chartered aircraft would arrive in Honolulu after about a 10-hour flight and be on the ground for 3.5 hours before flying directly to Panama.
President Ma commented that the main purpose of this trip was to attend the inauguration of the Republic of Panama's President-elect Juan Carlos Varela, who presently serves as that nation's vice president and previously served concurrently as foreign minister. President Ma added that his counterpart has an imposing presence, and is quite well-versed in international affairs. President Ma mentioned that he telephoned Mr. Varela in May of this year after the latter's election as president, and at that time the president-elect invited him to attend his inauguration.
President Ma noted that the two nations established diplomatic relations in 1909 and have maintained a longstanding alliance and friendship. The two countries have also achieved considerable success in a variety of cooperation projects covering the fields of agriculture, vocational training, and medicine, he said.
As for his planned visit to the Republic of El Salvador, President Ma commented, the ROC and El Salvador have maintained diplomatic ties for 81 years. On June 1 of this year when that nation's President Sanchez Ceren was sworn in, President Ma appointed Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) as his special envoy to lead a congratulatory delegation to El Salvador. The president expressed hope that this visit to El Salvador will further solidify the bilateral alliance.
President Ma also emphasized that upon taking office in 2008 he adopted a "viable diplomacy" policy, which has yielded considerable results. For instance, the website MoveHub carried out a survey called "How Powerful Is Your Passport?" Of the countries surveyed, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom ranked first, with 173 nations and areas granting the nationals of those countries visa-free status or landing visa courtesies. The president said that while the ROC has diplomatic relations with only 22 nations, it ranked 22nd in the world in that survey and sixth in Asia. This impressive result, he commented, indicates that the quality of our people and image of our nation are recognized throughout the world, which he said gives him great delight.
Upon completing his remarks, the president then accepted questions from members of his traveling press corps. Asked about the recent visit to Taiwan by Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) of mainland China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, President Ma replied that in February of this year when Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), Minister of the Executive Yuan's Mainland Affairs Council, visited mainland China to meet with Minister Zhang, the two addressed each other by their official titles. That fact, along with Minister Zhang's recent reciprocal visit to Taiwan, shows that the two sides are dealing head-on with reality, remarked the president, adding that this is an important step in consolidating relations between the two sides. And it is especially noteworthy, he said, that Minister Zhang visited Taiwan just months after the March student movement here, for it shows that the development of peaceful cross-strait ties was not affected by this factor.
The president furthermore noted that Minister Wang and Minister Zhang, in their most recent discussions on the proposed setting up of representative offices in each other's territory, moved closer toward agreement on the types of humanitarian visits that each side's officials would be allowed to make. He said previous talks on this matter had not gone smoothly, but a breakthrough was achieved during the most recent meeting. As for allowing mainland tourists to fly to Taiwan and make connections to onward destinations, the president noted, mainland authorities have expressed an openness to further negotiations and planning with Taiwan on this. President Ma acknowledged that this topic will be critical to the success of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis project. Furthermore, the president explained, the ROC desires to take part in regional economic integration by joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. He said that the mainland Chinese side has expressed a willingness to cooperate with Taiwan on this matter. Progress on all of these issues highlights the considerable achievements of the recent talks, he commented.
Lastly, President Ma also mentioned that Minister Zhang on his recent visit sought to interact closely with the people of Taiwan and understand their diverse views on cross-strait relations. During the course of his several days in Taiwan, Minister Zhang had a chance to come in contact with senior citizens, visually impaired individuals, local residents, and groups representing mainland Chinese spouses living here, the president said. He got a first-hand feel for the diversity of Taiwan, including protests and heckling, which the president said he is sure made a deep impression on Minister Zhang.