President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of October 14 with Professor William Kirby, chairman of the Harvard China Fund. The president welcomed Professor Kirby to Taiwan and spoke with him on a range of topics, including higher education in Taiwan, the policy of allowing mainland Chinese students to come to study in Taiwan, and Taiwan-US relations.
In remarks, President Ma stated that he has known Professor Kirby for more than 20 years since he held a position in the Executive Yuan's Mainland Affairs Council.
President Ma noted that Professor Kirby's research covers a number of disciplines, including the liberal arts, sciences, and business administration. Known for a deep understanding of modern Chinese history and early Sino-German relations, he has been named a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, and is highly regarded in many fields, the president said. Professor Kirby's latest book, Can China Lead?: Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth, explores the development model in mainland China, commented President Ma. Remarking that China's intelligentsia over the past century have strived to determine how to pursue national development, and that students from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait regularly discuss the different development paths adopted by mainland China and Taiwan, the president said he was sure that this book would be of great interest to many.
Regarding Taiwan's policy on allowing mainland Chinese students to study here, President Ma stated that in December 2007, when he was campaigning for the presidency, Professor Kirby had suggested to him that Taiwan should open its doors to mainland Chinese students so that students from the two sides could become friends and also compete against each other, which would promote cross-strait peace. The president commented that he actually had a similar idea when he was Taipei City mayor and that after he was inaugurated as president in 2008 he was able to act on it. As a result, he said, the number of mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwan now stands at over 25,000, up over 30 times from the figure of 823 before he took office. In addition to exchange students and regular degree students, the president said, the government last year began allowing graduates from two- and three-year technical colleges in the mainland to transfer to technical colleges and technical universities in Taiwan. This move was made to attract more mainland Chinese students to Taiwan, and has been quite successful.
President Ma told Professor Kirby that since mainland Chinese students began coming to Taiwan, they and their Taiwan peers have come to better understand each other's strengths and weaknesses, and have had opportunities to exchange opinions on conditions in mainland China and Taiwan. The president said he has always felt that if cross-strait peace is to be maintained, we must start with our youth by giving them opportunities to develop new ways of thinking from a young age.
President Ma emphasized that since taking office he has actively sought to open up Taiwan's campuses and recruit more foreign, overseas Chinese, and mainland Chinese students so that local students can have the opportunity to come in contact with individuals from other societies and cultures. This, he said, helps to cultivate greater empathy among students here, and instills a more international perspective. The president pointed to data showing that the number of students studying here from abroad this year exceeds 85,000, which is 2.8 times the level before he took office. In particular, due to Taiwan's declining birth rate, admissions quotas at many universities here go unfilled, and the extra slots can be provided to students from other places, he said. President Ma expressed hope that Taiwan can make the best use of its abundant educational resources, as well as its open and liberal education environment, to help build Taiwan into a hub for higher education in the Asia-Pacific region.
Commenting on Taiwan-US relations, the president noted that since he took office mutual trust has gradually been restored at the highest levels of government. In April of this year, for example, US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy visited Taiwan to witness the joint creation of the International Environmental Partnership. This, he stated, marked the first visit to Taiwan by a US Cabinet-level official in 14 years. The president also commented that last year Taiwan and the United States resumed talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. He said that the ROC government will continue to use a building-block approach to further strengthen economic and trade ties, as well as relations in other areas.