Ms. Marianne Craven, Managing Director of Academic Programs under the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the US Department of State;
Mr. William Vocke, Executive Director of the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange;
Mr. Christopher Marut, Director of the American Institute in Taiwan Taipei Office;
Fulbright scholars;
Mr. Andrew Jen-Chuan Kao, (高振群) Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs;
Honored guests, ladies and gentlemen:
Good afternoon, and welcome to Taiwan, the Republic of China!
It's a really great honor for me to attend this Fulbright Research Workshop today. This is the fourth straight year that I've had the pleasure of meeting with Fulbright scholars, and I'm very pleased to have this opportunity to share Taiwan's perspective on important issues.
During your stay here, I hope you'll gain a better understanding of the Republic of China, Taiwan's relations with mainland China, and developments in East Asia. Today, I'll be talking about the future of Taiwan from three vantage points: from Taiwan itself, in terms of cross-strait relations, and from an international point of view.
A free and prosperous Taiwan is what I promised my people, and when I assumed office in 2008, I had three policy objectives: first is a free and prosperous Taiwan; second, cross-strait peace; and third, friendly international relations. And by working together, the government and people of Taiwan have made considerable progress in achieving those objectives over the past seven years.
In our quest to create a free and prosperous Taiwan, last year was a banner year, as in 2014 our economic growth rate reached a three-year high of 3.74%, better than Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea. That also marked the first time in 16 years that Taiwan outperformed the other three Asian tigers. Last year, our export volume also reached US$472 billion, a historical high.
Over the last six years, to enhance Taiwan's economic links with the rest of the world and revitalize our overall economy, the Republic of China government has signed numerous cooperative trade and investment agreements with mainland China, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore. We also resumed negotiations with the United States under TIFA—the 1994 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement—showing our determination to promote economic liberalization at home and abroad.
This year is also crucial to enhancing Taiwan's international competitiveness as we seek to participate more fully in regional economic integration. In 2015 the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be holding its second round of negotiations, while the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) plans to open its doors to non-ASEAN members. So as we look ahead, Taiwan will continue to use a cumulative, "building-block" strategy to sign economic cooperation or free trade agreements with major trading partners. We trust that they will help us build momentum for participation in the TPP and the RCEP.
So this is our vision for the near future in the economic area.
The second area is cross-strait relations. Actually, what our policy is, was announced when I took office seven years ago, in my inaugural address. That is: We want to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait under the framework of the Constitution of the Republic of China. And that means no unification, no independence, and no use of force, the so-called "Three Nos." By that, I mean: No unification talks during my term of office. And "no independence" means we will not adopt a policy to declare Taiwan's independence. And "no use of force" needs no explanation. And based on the 1992 Consensus, which maintains that there is one China, with each side having its own respective interpretation. Well, a lot of people call the 1992 Consensus, "One China, respective interpretations," a great masterpiece of ambiguity. Well, it is. But nevertheless, it worked.
So we have continued to promote cross-strait relations. Over the past seven years, so far we have concluded 21 agreements with the mainland, including the most important one—the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement—or ECFA for short, and reached two major points of consensus with mainland China. During that period, a total of 14 million mainland Chinese residents have visited Taiwan. I was just told that the National Palace Museum in Taipei is crowded with mainland tourists. Well, they are a major source of visitors to the National Palace Museum. Last year alone, the number of mainland visitors reached almost four million—compared to less than 300,000 before I took office. So it's quite a jump, almost 13 times. And as for the number of exchange students from the mainland, before I took office there were only 823, but last year there were 32,000, so it's about 40 times what it was before I took office.
This is very important, because for more than 10 years, I've advocated the policy to allow more mainland students to come to Taiwan. Because I always believe we have to let the young people of the two sides make friends with each other at an early stage of their life. And this is probably the most important way to build sustainable peace and prosperity in the future.
So cross-strait circumstances have seen unprecedented changes over the last six years, ushering in the most stable and peaceful period we've seen in the past 66 years. Since the Republic of China government relocated its seat to Taiwan, I think this is the first time that we have such a free and peaceful exchange with the mainland.
In addition, last year the ministers of the two sides in charge of cross-strait relations met three times. In Taipei, in Nanjing, and in Beijing—every time they met—they called each other by their official titles. This, again, is unprecedented. And that reflects the interesting idea I initiated, that is: We should not recognize each other's sovereignty, but we should not deny each other's governing authority. In Chinese: 主權互不承認, 治權互不否認. Well, actually I learned this from the German formula, as Mr. Vocke just said. The two Germanys signed a Basis of Relations Agreement back in 1972, where the two sides virtually recognized the territory of the other side. But they actually were short of using the term "sovereignty." Instead, they actually called it a German word, hoheitsgewalt—which means "supreme power," which is "治權" in the Chinese terminology. So this is something that we find is a modus vivendi for the two sides to exist with each other.
So by doing that, we have institutionalized a cross-strait communication mechanism, a milestone in the peaceful development of cross-strait relations. It was also a concrete manifestation of a policy, as I just mentioned, of "mutual non-recognition of sovereignty, and mutual non-denial of governing authority."
This progress in peace and stability in cross-strait relations made it possible for the US to have amicable interaction with parties on both sides of the Taiwan Strait at the same time. This is very important, because any important move we make in regard to mainland China, the US will be notified in advance. So we adopted a "low key and surprise-free" policy with the US so that any progress in cross-strait relations is appreciated by our American friends.
This, again, was unprecedented. And just last month, US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel praised the progress of cross-strait relations. He said that developments in Taiwan-US relations over the past few years have been extremely constructive, and that this has been strongly related to cross-strait developments.
Looking ahead, we see that peace across the Taiwan Strait will yield a "peace dividend" that we will continue to nurture, an important pillar in the prosperity that we can share with all the countries in the region.
And number three is about our country's international relations. I've actually said a million times that I hope my country will play five roles in the international community. First of all, we want to become a peacemaker. Secondly, we want to become a provider of international humanitarian aid. Thirdly, we want my country to become a promoter of international cultural exchange. Fourthly, a creator of new technology and business opportunities. And number five, we want my country to become a standard-bearer of Chinese culture.
In the area of planning international relations over the last six years, Taiwan has actively promoted the policy of "viable diplomacy." Under that policy, we've actively sought to participate in the international community, and interact with that community based on the principles of dignity, autonomy, pragmatism, and flexibility, playing the role of peacemaker and provider of humanitarian aid.
In August 2012, I proposed the East China Sea Peace Initiative. Because at that time, there was very severe tension between mainland China and Japan. In over 20 cities, there were large-scale uprisings in mainland China against Japanese companies and Japanese people, because Japan decided to nationalize the Diaoyutai, which the Japanese call the Senkaku Islands, during that time.
What we tried to do was call on all parties in the region to resolve maritime disputes peacefully. And the idea behind that move was that while sovereignty cannot be compromised, resources can be shared. We actually learned this from the North Sea case, where the coastal states of the North Sea in Europe decided in the late 1960s and early 1970s to shelve their maritime and territorial claims in favor of joint exploration and exploitation. And the result, as everybody knows, is that they developed a famous brand of crude oil, which has become a very important international brand name. This is something that we also want to duplicate in our part of the world. So in April 2013, the Republic of China and Japan signed a fisheries agreement, ending a 40-year old dispute.
I remember when I was in college, I also participated in the demonstrations against the Japanese and Americans for this issue—the Diaoyutai Defense Movement. And so I have been concerned about this issue for over 40 years. So it was quite something for me to see the conclusion of a fisheries agreement. And the most dramatic effect of this fisheries agreement is that the year before the agreement was concluded, there were 17 conflicts between the fishermen and between the coast guards of the two countries. Sometimes they even exchanged water-cannon fire to keep the situation calm. But after that, for the first year, there was only one dispute. And for the second year, none at all. At the same time, for a place—water about twice the size of Taiwan—fishermen from both countries can fish in that area, which can be called a joint conservation and management zone, and the catch—particularly the high-quality catch like bluefin tuna—has increased almost three times. So this is really good news for the Japanese restaurants in Taiwan. Next month we will celebrate this in a small Japanese restaurant, because the shop owner and employees, just two or three months after we signed the agreement, signed a letter and thanked me for bringing them cheap tuna and much better business.
The East China Sea Peace Initiative could also be applied to the South China Sea. Another example was also a fisheries dispute between Taiwan and the Philippines in 2013 when the Filipino coast guard shot dead a Taiwanese fisherman, and seriously damaged the ship. So we negotiated with the Filipinos, demanding an apology from the government, compensation for the victim's family, and prosecution of the perpetrator. And eventually we hope to conclude a fishing agreement with the Filipinos on the overlapping exclusive economic zone.
Actually, within three months, we've been able do the first three things. Now the perpetrators have been tried by the Filipino courts, but the fisheries agreement is more complicated. But at least, so far, we have already finished a consensus on the mode of enforcement in that part of the South China Sea. What does that mean? There are three requirements. First, no use of force is allowed. Secondly, there should be mutual notification before law enforcement action. And number three, in case of arrest or detention, the ship and the people should be released promptly. Actually, all these three things were in Article 74 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. So once we did that, the Filipinos were quite cooperative in asking the government agencies to enforce that, even without a formal agreement. And we've also asked our fishermen to do things in a very legal way. I said very bluntly to our fishermen that we will defend their legal rights, but not their wrongdoings. If they fish in other countries' territorial seas, there's no way for the government to intervene.
Overall, Taiwan's role as a peacemaker has been clearly demonstrated. I noticed that not only the US State Department, but the Australian Defense Ministry also praised what we did, and we very sincerely want to use the same principle to see if we can also achieve peace in the South China Sea.
So, peace in the Taiwan Strait, in the East China Sea, and in the South China Sea, all these three waters were part of Taiwan's surrounding environment. We hope that by doing that, we could really achieve what we want.
In the case of the Philippines, it's also an interesting case to show our humanitarian concern.
Barely two months after the Filipinos shot dead our fisherman, our coast guard saw Filipino ships, sampans, floating after a typhoon. So we rescued five people who had been floating for five days, and then we sent them back to the Philippines. And a few months later when the Philippines was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, we sent in our military airplanes and ships to carry more than 700 tons of relief material. And so we want to show to our friends over there that we have no grudge against the Filipinos, particularly in case of humanitarian aid. Actually, we have done this many times—to Haiti, to mainland China, and to Japan. As you know, almost four years ago in Japan, we donated more than US$200 million. And actually the amount exceeded the total of the other donating countries. We were trying to let the Japanese know, when we were in trouble from Typhoon Morakot they helped us out, so we do the same for them. And so, by doing that, we have seen a lot of Japanese come to Taiwan. Usually, after they deplane, they will show a big plaque saying, "Thank you, Taiwan." This happened for almost two years. So this is something that very much strengthened the friendship between Taiwan and Japan.
As a provider of international humanitarian aid, I think we also sent 100,000 sets of personal protective gear to Ebola-affected regions in West Africa, along with US$1 million to a global fund with the US CDC to combat Ebola. We also donated 350 prefabricated houses for use by refugees in conflict-stricken areas of the Middle East to help them make it through the winter. Those efforts highlight the spirit of empathy and compassion that underlies Taiwan's provision of humanitarian aid.
Over the past few years, Taiwan's policy of "viable diplomacy" has been lauded by the international community, while also generating positive benefits in return.
A total of 140 countries and areas now offer our citizens visa-waiver, landing-visa treatment, or other visa privileges, up from 54 when I took office, an increase of 86. We have also signed youth working holiday agreements with 13 countries, an increase of 11 during the same period. In addition, a Taiwan delegation has attended the annual World Health Assembly for six consecutive years, after an absence of 38 years. And when we were somewhat mistreated by the WHO, the US Secretary of Health actually held a press conference to say very loudly that no single UN agency could unilaterally determine the status of Taiwan. This is really a very friendly gesture.
We have also been invited to attend the annual meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization, after an absence of 42 years. As for other international conferences like the UNFCCC, we're trying to get in.
By the way, we have also been able to participate in the Visa Waiver Program of the United States. I think we are one of the 37 countries that have that kind of privilege. And we are the only one that does not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. Because of that, the number of visitors to the United States has increased very much. As you know, many people here admire your culture, your society, and I can assure you—they are very serious shoppers, as well.
So the future of Taiwan lies in continuing to promote "viable diplomacy" in international relations. What we're trying to do is, in the past, cross-strait relations and our international relations conflicted with each other. It was a vicious cycle. What we have done is to transform that vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle. Even the US State Department praised what we did with mainland China. And we hope this will continue. But one of the most important elements of success for this is the "1992 Consensus," in other words: "One China, respective interpretations," just because of the ambiguity. That gives each side some room for their interpretation. This is probably the most sensible way to solve an ostensibly intractable issue called "sovereignty."
I hope you will also enjoy your stay here. I would suggest that you at least go to the National Palace Museum to see our past. The art treasures of at least 20 emperors are collected over there. Another place I want you to visit is our night market, where you will see the genuine daily life of our citizens.
So, once again, welcome to Taiwan. And if you still have some free time, do as much shopping as possible.
Thank you very much!