President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of October 27 with a delegation led by US State of Montana Governor Steve Bullock. In addition to extending a cordial welcome to the visitors, the president also updated them on progress and achievements in ROC-US and cross-strait relations over the past several years.
In remarks, the president stated that he previously met with Governor Bullock in 2009 when he served as Montana attorney general and visited Taiwan as part of a delegation from the National Association of Attorneys General. The president noted that today, Governor Bullock is not only visiting the ROC in his capacity as governor of the State of Montana, but is also leading a delegation of high-ranking officials and business leaders from the state. This, the president stated, represents the deep friendship that Governor Bullock has for the ROC.
The president commented that the US and the ROC severed diplomatic relations in 1979, which marked a low point for the ROC in international diplomacy. That year, however, then Montana Governor Thomas Judge led a delegation to the ROC in a substantive gesture of support. President Ma said that since he took office in 2008, three presidents of the Montana Senate and two speakers of the Montana House of Representatives have also visited the ROC. In addition, the Montana Legislature in 2013 unanimously passed a joint resolution supporting Taiwan's meaningful participation in international organizations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the World Health Organization, along with entry for Taiwan in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The government and people of the ROC are deeply appreciative of these gestures, he said.
President Ma mentioned that Montana established its first overseas office in 1988 in the ROC, which helped to promote trade, economic activity, investment, and tourism. The office was expanded in 2000 to become the state's Asia Pacific Trade Office, but was unfortunately closed in 2012 due to budgetary constraints. The president hopes that the office will resume operations in the ROC.
As for agricultural dealings between the ROC and the US, the president said that Taiwan is the 10th largest trading partner of the US and is America's seventh largest export market for agricultural products. Taiwan, meanwhile, mainly buys agricultural goods such as wheat and soybeans from Montana. A wheat delegation to the ROC Agricultural Trade Goodwill Mission, convened every two years, has visited Montana many times, the president said, adding that it has signed a letter of intent to purchase US wheat. This year's goodwill mission recently returned to Taiwan from a visit to Montana that proved to be quite a success. President Ma extended his gratitude to Governor Bullock for the warm reception provided to the delegation.
The president then noted that since taking office he has strived to improve ROC-US relations and that mutual trust has been restored at the highest levels of government, leading to positive developments in bilateral relations. In 2012, for instance, Taiwan was included in the US 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 US. In addition, over the past seven years the US has sold the ROC over US$18.3 billion worth of arms, which is the highest amount in the past two decades. The US also agreed to sell the ROC four Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates last year and invited the ROC to participate in two military exercises this year. All of these developments show that bilateral interaction in the security filed is even closer than it was before diplomatic ties were severed.
Commenting on economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, the president stated that Taiwan last year vaulted past India and Saudi Arabia to become the 10th largest trading partner of the US, while the US has once again become Taiwan's second largest trading partner. The president also cited statistics showing that trade in goods between Taiwan and the US last year reached US$67.4 billion, 6.3% higher than in 2013. Negotiations under the 1994 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) also resumed in 2013, which has been conducive to enhancing bilateral economic and trade relations.
As for tourism, President Ma remarked that the number of US tourists visiting Taiwan is growing steadily, with about 460,000 Americans arriving last year. At the same time, the majority of tourists from Taiwan visiting the US head to the western part of the country. Montana is home to the renowned Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park, which are among the top destinations for Taiwanese tourists, he said.
The president then mentioned that a major reason for the improvement of ROC-US ties is the peaceful development of cross-strait relations. US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton also emphasized that Taiwan and the US have gotten closer, and that this is closely related to progress in cross-strait relations.
Turning to the topic of cross-strait relations, the president remarked that since he took office, 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 to promote the peaceful development of 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. Over the past seven years, visitors from mainland China have made over 14 million trips to Taiwan, almost four million of them in the past year alone. In addition, the number of mainland students studying in Taiwan jumped from 823 prior to his taking office to over 33,000 last year, a 40-fold increase. The president said that interaction between young people from the two side of the Taiwan Strait would help to maintain the sustainable, peaceful development of cross-strait ties. The ministers in charge of cross-strait affairs from both sides of the Strait have also held six formal meetings where both sides used their official titles. All of these developments show that cross-strait relations are the most stable and peaceful they have been in the past 66 years.