President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of October 1 with a delegation led by Deputy US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Holleyman, during which the president explained the ROC's determination and efforts in promoting trade liberalization. He also expressed hope that the ROC will sign a bilateral investment agreement (BIA) with the United States and participate in the second round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.
In remarks, the president stated that the ROC and the United States signed the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in 1994. However, when he took office in 2008, negotiations under the TIFA umbrella had already been stalled for quite some time. Three years ago, TIFA negotiations resumed, with the two sides subsequently holding two rounds of TIFA talks. In March of 2013, Ambassador Demetrios Marantis, former Deputy USTR, visited the ROC for the seventh round of TIFA negotiations, and last year the ROC delegation met with Acting Deputy USTR Wendy Cutler for the eighth round. The US delegation for the ninth round of negotiations this year is larger than in the past, which indicates that the United States is placing even greater importance on bilateral economic and trade relations, he said. "Resumption of TIFA negotiations has been, since my inauguration in 2008, an extremely important step in strengthening relations between the two countries," the president stated.
As for multilateral trade negotiations, the president stated that the United States has been actively promoting negotiations on an Information Technology Agreement Expansion, Trade in Services Agreement, and Environmental Goods Agreement under the World Trade Organization framework, and that the ROC is America's closest cooperative partner in these talks.
Commenting on ROC-US trade relations, the president said that since the first half of 2014 the United States has surpassed Japan to become the ROC's second largest trading partner. That same year, the ROC vaulted over India and Saudi Arabia to become the 10th largest trading partner of the United States. The president said he was pleased that the United States was still our second largest trading partner in the first eight months of this year.
The president mentioned that the United States in 2012 included Taiwan in its Visa Waiver Program (VWP), making the ROC the only nation of the 38 in the VWP that does not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States. The two sides in December of that year began cooperating in promoting the Pacific Islands Leadership Program (PILP), providing intensive training to young leaders in government or NGOs with potential from Pacific Islands. This marked a new era in trilateral cooperation involving Taiwan, the United States, and Pacific Island nations. On April 14 of last year, US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy came to the ROC for the launching of the International Environmental Partnership. In addition, in June of this year, the ROC and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding on the Global Cooperation Training Framework, which has paved the way for bilateral cooperation in humanitarian assistance, public health, environmental protection, and energy, according to the president. In August, the two countries also jointly held the International Training Course on Molecular Diagnosis of Middle East Respiratory Virus (MERS) Co-V, thereby expanding cooperation in the area of public health and substantively realizing the ROC's role as a provider of international humanitarian aid, he said.
The president further pointed out that during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Week held in November of last year, US President Barack Obama called Taiwan a "thriving democracy." Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in remarks delivered at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii in November of 2011, described Taiwan as "an important security and economic partner" of the United States. In May of this year Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton, in an address at the Brookings Institution, also stressed a comprehensive, durable, and mutually beneficial partnership between Taiwan and the United States, and called Taiwan a vital partner for the United States in Asia. This year US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel and Deputy Assistant Secretary Thornton also emphasized that Taiwan-US relations have been closer, and that this is closely related to progress in cross-strait relations.
Discussing cross-strait relations, the president told the visitors that prior to his tenure in office, cross-strait relations were characterized by tension, confrontation, and antagonism, thus impacting ROC-US relations. After he took office, however, the ROC and the United States not only restored mutual trust at the highest levels, but his administration was also able to improve the cross-strait relationship. In fact, upon taking office the president instituted a cross-strait policy that endeavors, 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 to promote peaceful cross-strait ties under the 1992 Consensus, whereby each side acknowledges the existence of "one China" but maintains its own interpretation of what that means.
Addressing the topic of Taiwan's active participation in regional economic integration, President Ma stated that the United States has promoted an Asia-Pacific rebalancing strategy, and that the TPP is an important link in this initiative. The value of trade between Taiwan and the 12 TPP members accounts for 35% of Taiwan's total trade, which highlights the importance and urgency of Taiwan's entry into the TPP, he said. Taiwan has also sought to accelerate the pace of its participation in regional economic integration by signing the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with mainland China in 2010, the Taiwan-Japan Bilateral Investment Arrangement in 2011, the ANZTEC economic cooperation agreement with New Zealand, and the ASTEP economic partnership agreement with Singapore in 2013. These are concrete expressions of Taiwan's determination and efforts to promote trade liberalization, he said, while still acknowledging that Taiwan faces many challenges that are hard to overcome. Consequently, Taiwan is very interested in joining the TPP, which would accelerate our integration into the region's economy, he said.
President Ma told the visitors that many senior American government officials have publicly welcomed Taiwan's entry into the TPP. He pointed out that in March of this year US House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce stated that Taiwan is an important pillar in the East Asian economy. Congressman Royce also hopes to promote a BIA between Taiwan and the United States in the future, which would serve as a cornerstone for Taiwan's entry into the TPP. Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State Russel has expressed that the United States will give Taiwan serious consideration as a candidate for TPP membership. All of these remarks are conducive to enhancing the economic and trade relationship between the two countries in the future, the president said.
Also in the delegation was Phil Karsting, Administrator of the US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service.