President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of June 26 with legislators from various countries attending the Asian Women Parliamentarian Conference 2015 and members of Germany's Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS). In addition to extending a cordial welcome to the female parliamentarians from throughout Asia on their visit to Taiwan, the president also briefed them on the ROC government's efforts and the actions it has taken to ensure gender equality.
In remarks, the president stated that the KAS in 2013 began to hold the Regional Programme Political Dialogue with Asia in Singapore. Discussions focus on topics such as the participation of women in politics and gender equality, hoping to use this platform to urge countries to pay more attention to and protect women's rights. The KAS this year selected Taiwan to hold the Asian Women Parliamentarian Conference 2015, with the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy acting as co-sponsor. The ROC is the third nation to hold this international conference, following Myanmar and Singapore.
Commenting on the nation's work to ensure gender equality, President Ma said that the ROC was Asia's first democratic republic and has long strived to ensure the fundamental rights of its people. The Freedom in the World 2014 report released by US-based Freedom House last year rated 195 nations in two major categories (political rights and civil liberties), with "1" being the best rating and "7" being the worst. Taiwan scored a "1" in political rights (higher than Korea) and a "2" in civil liberties, a pretty strong vote of international approval. Meanwhile, the government’s continued efforts to promote gender equality were reflected in data that was calculated based on the United Nations (UN) Gender Inequality Index (GII), which showed Taiwan with a score of 0.055 in 2013. That was the fifth best score in the world and the best gender equality score of any Asian nation, the president remarked.
The president went on to discuss the outstanding performance of women in Taiwan, pointing out that female political figures have distinguished themselves in executive and legislative positions in both the central and local governments. Many women currently participate in politics as members of the cabinet and local councils, and over 35% of the legislators in the Legislative Yuan are women, as are nearly 10% of the nation's soldiers. Many have made remarkable careers in the military, showing that women and men have equal standing, and that the women of the ROC are taking care of not only the family, but the nation as well, he said.
President Ma also discussed substantive actions by the ROC as a peacemaker in the international community, commenting that since taking office in 2008 his administration 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 has acted on the basis of the "1992 Consensus"—whereby each side acknowledges the existence of "one China" but maintains its own interpretation of what that means—to seek peaceful cross-strait relations. This policy has yielded considerable success to date, he said, pointing out that the number of scheduled flights between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has increased from none before he took office to about 120 daily at present. Also, the number of mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwan has risen from 823 prior to his taking office to more than 32,000 now, growing nearly 40-fold. This highlights the increasingly close and frequent interaction between the two sides.
The president then mentioned that in August 2012 he proposed the East China Sea Peace Initiative to address disputes that have occurred in the East China Sea over the past few years, calling for all parties to reduce tensions and use peaceful means to resolve disputes. The ROC and Japan signed a fisheries agreement in April 2013, not only effectively putting an end to a longstanding fisheries dispute but also increasing the catches for fishermen from both sides. This, the president said, is a concrete realization of the initiative’s central concept, which maintains that "although sovereignty over national territory cannot be compromised, natural resources can be shared."
President Ma further noted that he formally announced the South China Sea Peace Initiative on May 26, hoping to reduce tensions in the South China Sea and resolve disputes in that area peacefully. On June 12, he published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in his capacity as ROC president that focused on the South China Sea Peace Initiative, suggesting that all concerned parties shelve sovereignty disputes and work together to develop resources, working jointly to maintain regional peace and stability.
The delegation of over 20 individuals was led to the Presidential Office by Wilhelm Hofmeister, Director of KAS Regional Programme Political Dialogue with Asia in Singapore.