President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of November 20 with members of the ROC delegation that attended the 23rd APEC Economic Leaders' Week. In addition to thanking former Vice President Vincent C. Siew (蕭萬長, who acted as his envoy to the meeting) and the other delegation members for speaking on the ROC's behalf on the international stage, the president also praised the delegation for achieving substantive results in the effort to raise Taiwan's international visibility.
In remarks, President Ma stated that the 23rd APEC Economic Leaders' Week had been a big success, and thanked Mr. Siew for the hard work he did in serving for the third time as his envoy to these important international proceedings. President Ma further said that Mr. Siew deserves great respect for that he is still willing, even after his retirement from public service, to continue using his experience and wisdom to raise Taiwan's international visibility, and help our nation gain admission to important regional economic integration mechanisms such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Mr. Siew has shouldered a heavy responsibility and contributed much to Taiwan's international economic and trade ties, said the president.
Listing the results achieved at APEC 2015 in Manila, President Ma mentioned that Mr. Siew engaged in bilateral meetings with US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and also attended sideline meetings with a number of economic leaders, including Xi Jinping (習近平) of mainland China. Such meetings, said the president, will help promote Taiwan's efforts to take part in the second round of TPP negotiations.
President Ma also mentioned that APEC is the Asia-Pacific region's most important forum for the discussion of economic and trade cooperation. Noting that this year's event focused on such topics as how to promote inclusive growth, help the service sectors in individual APEC economies, and spur development of micro, small, and medium enterprises, the president pointed out in particular that "Taiwan has a lot of experience" in the area of government assistance for the development of small and medium enterprises. With the assistance of advisors and delegation members, said the president, Mr. Siew was able to explain to counterparts that Taiwan is serious about fostering the development of human resources and promoting technical and vocational education, and called for the establishment of an APEC Skills Development Capacity Building Alliance. This call was supported by many economic leaders, said the president, noting that "we achieved some excellent successes at this year's APEC."
Mr. Siew also delivered remarks, in which he noted that this year's delegation included officials from the National Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the National Development Council as well as representatives of domestic industries. Delegation members cooperated and acted as a team to raise Taiwan's international visibility, and international media has published numerous reports that mention the views and initiatives put forward by Taiwan during the proceedings. In his remarks, US President Barak Obama referred to Taiwan's efforts to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. "The ROC's efforts received very positive attention at APEC," said Mr. Siew, who said this shows that our APEC delegation achieved much of what it set out to do this year, and has lived up to the president's expectations.
Commenting on the delegation's achievements, Mr. Siew noted that this year's APEC proceedings had a very full agenda. Discussion among the national leaders regarding regional economic integration and related matters was quite spirited, and the ROC's delegation took full advantage of opportunities to express the nation's determination to join the TPP and the RCEP. In addition, at sideline meetings during the week, the delegation's excellent interactions with representatives from other nations demonstrated a strong foundation of trust and friendship. Taiwan also achieved a lot in bilateral meetings, where both Singapore and Indonesia expressed support for Taiwan's admission to the TPP. Mr. Siew expressed his strong hope that these countries will continue to support our participation in the process of regional economic integration.
The delegation members subsequently took part in a press conference at the Auditorium of the Presidential Office Building to mark their return to Taiwan. During the press conference, Mr. Siew outlined Taiwan's three main achievements at this year's APEC, and fielded questions from reporters.
The first of the three main achievements, said Mr. Siew, was that the delegation put forward five proposals that were included in the 2015 APEC Leaders' Declaration, an indication of the high regard that other APEC economies have for our nation. Second, Taiwan successfully expanded the scope of its bilateral and plurilateral relations with other APEC members. In addition to holding bilateral talks with the US, Japan, Singapore, and Indonesia, Taiwan's delegation also took advantage of opportunities to interact with officials from other countries in sideline meetings. And third, the delegation members conducted in-depth discussions with representatives from other APEC members regarding Taiwan's intention to join the TPP, the RCEP, and the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP), thus laying the foundation for Taiwan's inclusion in the second round of TPP negotiations.
Mr. Siew then mentioned that APEC participants responded to the recent terrorist attacks in Paris by addressing the issue of counter-terrorism during the proceedings. In addition, APEC will pay close attention to climate change in view of its deep and broad-ranging impact on the global environment and food security.
Among those in attendance to meet President Ma at the Presidential Office were advisors Woody Tyzz-Jiun Duh (杜紫軍), John C. C. Deng (鄧振中), Andrew L. Y. Hsia (夏立言), Da Nien Liu (劉大年), Hou-Sheng Chan (詹火生), Chan Chi-shean (詹啟賢), and business community representative MiTAC-SYNNEX Group Chairman Matthew F.C. Miao (苗豐強).