The Most Reverend Katherine Jefferts Schori;
The Reverend David Lai (賴榮信), Bishop of Taiwan;
Chancellor Herbert Ma (馬漢寶) of the Republic of China's Constitutional Court;
Deputy Secretary-General to the President Hsiung Kuang-hua (熊光華);
Deputy Interior Minister Chen Chwen-jing (陳純敬);
Dr. Cecilia Yen Koo (辜嚴倬雲), chairwoman of St. John's University;
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
Good evening!
I'm very honored to be here at this meaningful gathering with you all, which is being hosted by the Taiwan Episcopal Church. First of all, on behalf of the government and people of the Republic of China, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our 240 distinguished guests, who have come here from 11 different countries.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Taiwan Episcopal Church. In the traditional Chinese calendar system, 60 years is one complete cycle. Symbolically speaking, the start of a new 60-year cycle foretells an unlimited future, so the Episcopal Church of the United States couldn't have picked a better year to hold the House of Bishops Autumn Meeting in Taiwan. Your choice shows the importance you place upon your congregation here, and upon my country. For this, I thank you.
The Episcopal Church is an extremely important Protestant denomination, and one of the oldest. The Episcopal Church of the United States was founded in the 18th century, and now has more than 7,400 churches in 110 dioceses in the US, Central America, and parts of Europe. You therefore have a long history and a huge flock of faithful followers around the world.
The Taiwan Episcopal Church has actively preached the gospel and provided charity services for many years. It currently has 18 churches, three missionary stations, one outreach ministry, eight kindergartens, and the well-known St. John's University. The church is deeply involved in community services, and its efforts have earned praise and gratitude within the larger society in Taiwan. Therefore, I wish to personally express my deepest respect and thanks to the Episcopal Church for all it has done over the years, both here in Taiwan and around the world.
Ever since I took office as president of this country six years ago, I've wanted to make my country a provider of international humanitarian aid. I want my country to play five roles. First of all, a peace maker; second, a provider of international humanitarian aid; third, a promoter of international cultural exchange; number fourth, a creator of high technology and business opportunities; and fifth, a standard bearer of Chinese culture. In the past decades, the Republic of China had been the recipient of foreign aid from other countries, primarily from the United States. From 1950 to 1965 we received 1.5 billion dollars of US aid, which helped us to transform our agricultural society into an industrial one and build up what other people call an economic miracle. By 1965 the United States decided to stop the aid, the reason being that "you have graduated." So we thank many countries, particularly the United States. As the Episcopal Church teaches that you should "love your neighbor as yourself," it is in this same spirit that Taiwan has sought to change from "an importer of compassion" into "an exporter of compassion." Today, the people of Taiwan sponsor about 250,000 children around the world who live in poverty. Actually the total figure is 350,000 worldwide. In addition to the 250,000 abroad, about 100,000 are in Taiwan. In terms of the children we sponsor overseas, that is more than 1% of our population, which is one of the highest rates of sponsorship anywhere in the world.
As a matter of fact, my wife and I sponsor 18 children, half in Taiwan and half overseas, including one in El Salvador. I had the chance to visit that country in July, and I had the chance to meet for the first time the boy we sponsor, Melvin, only to find that there were 5,500 kids like Melvin who were sponsored by Taiwanese. In terms of percentage, we are actually the highest in the world in El Salvador. And this is why I told you we have transformed ourselves from an importer—or a recipient—of compassion into a giver. This is a very important part of my administration's work.
In addition, Taiwan has also been a very active participant in aid for international disasters. For instance, barely 12 hours after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, our rescue team left Taiwan and arrived in the capital of Haiti in about 20 hours. And we donated more than US$60 million, including 200 units of housing over there. As you know, your former president Clinton and Mrs. Clinton feel a special compassion toward Haiti because they spent their honeymoon there. When President Clinton visited Taiwan two years ago, I had a dinner with him. Throughout the dinner, we only talked about Haiti. I told him that the methods we used to build the housing units in Haiti were the same ones we learned from our experience in Taiwan. Such housing is given to the victims of earthquakes or other natural disasters, but is not supposed to be sold or rented to others. But they could be inherited by their children or grandchildren. Only by doing that could we assure that the victims would really get the benefits of the housing. He liked the idea very much.
Another thing I would like to let you know is that in 2011 Japan had a devastating earthquake, which killed altogether about 25,000 people. In Taiwan, in barely two months the government and people donated US$220 million. Our figure exceeded the total figure of all the other 93 countries' donations combined. I was surprised. And when Typhoon Haiyan caused devastation in the Philippines and Palau, we also sent material and cash to these two countries. Within less than a day I sent 18 flights and one shipload of goods totaling roughly 700 tons. We were actually the first country to physically deliver the materials to the hands of the victims. We are trying to let the world know that the existence of Taiwan is very important to the international community. We are an asset, not a liability.
We hope to work with you because you have done so much in charitable enterprises. We want to work hand in hand with you throughout the world to enhance the humanitarian aid wherever it is needed.
I know many of you are probably visiting Taiwan for the first time. I hope you will take time out of your very busy schedule to enjoy the very rich cultural life in this country, particularly in this city, because I used to be the mayor of this city. There are two places I would advise you to go. Of course, one is the National Palace Museum, which some of you might have already seen. That is the place where the masterpieces of art of the last 3,000 years are exhibited. They are the collection of more than 25 emperors. That museum is where you can see the past of this country, and this culture. Another place I want you to visit is the night markets in Taiwan, where you can see a variety of very tasty and—to you, maybe—exotic food. And last but not least, during your stay in Taiwan I advise you to do as much shopping as possible to help this country recover from economic recession. Once again, welcome to the Republic of China and enjoy the rest of the trip. Thank you.