President Ma Ying-jeou departed at 8:50 a.m. on March 13 (Sunday) to visit two diplomatic allies in Central America—Guatemala and Belize—on a trip codenamed the Forever Peaceful Project. Shortly after the plane took off, the president delivered remarks to his delegation via the aircraft's public address system, explaining the reasons, plans, and prospects for this journey.
President Ma stated that he was leading the delegation to the Central American nations of Guatemala and Belize, and that this would be his second visit to these two diplomatic allies during his time in office. Predicated on comfort, convenience, and dignity, he said, the delegation will be making a transit stop in Houston on the outbound leg of the trip (his first transit stop in the American South during a state trip overseas), and in Los Angeles on the return leg.
President Ma pointed out that this trip is in response to invitations from President Jimmy Morales of Guatemala, Prime Minister Dean O. Barrow of Belize, and President Jose Antonio Alvarado of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN).
President Ma noted that Guatemala had completed a presidential election in 2015 and invited him to attend the inauguration of President Morales this past January 14, but he could not go because it coincided with Taiwan's own presidential election, so he dispatched ROC Minister of Foreign Affairs David Y. L. Lin (林永樂) to attend the inauguration as his envoy. President Morales afterwards sent a letter to invite him for a visit to Guatemala in March of this year. President Ma remarked that it has already been seven years since his last visit to Guatemala, whose population of 15.8 million makes it the ROC's second-largest formal diplomatic ally. As such, Guatemala is very important to the ROC, and bilateral relations are very friendly, so he was more than happy to accept President Morales's invitation.
President Ma also commented that the PARLACEN, based in Guatemala, has six member nations. In addition to 20 regular PARLACEN representatives, each member nation's most recent head of state and deputy head of state to leave office also become ex-officio PARLACEN members. The ROC's Legislative Yuan is also a PARLACEN observer, so President Ma said he will meet with many important political figures during the trip. In addition, PARLACEN President Alvarado, who is a fellow graduate of Harvard University, began working actively after taking office last year to promote relations with the ROC. During this trip, said President Ma, he will deliver a speech at PARLACEN.
Turning his attention to Belize, President Ma noted that the ROC has always had very friendly ties with Belize, and this trip will further strengthen bilateral relations. In fact, fully 12 of the ROC's 22 diplomatic allies are located in Latin America or the Caribbean. This visit also marks his 12th state trip overseas during his time as ROC president, and although he will be leaving office in two months, said the president, "we cannot stop working for even one day." In particular, he remarked, the ROC's diplomatic situation is fraught with difficulties, so in the conduct of its "viable diplomacy" policy, the government has no caretaker period, and no downtime. "That's the way we've always conducted our affairs," he remarked.
President Ma stressed that even though he will only visit two diplomatic allies on this trip, in addition to the governor-general of Belize and the heads of state of both Guatemala and Belize, he will also meet in Belize with the prime ministers of St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, all of which are ROC diplomatic allies. All told, said the president, he will meet and talk with six national leaders during the trip, and these meetings promise to play an extremely important role in helping to consolidate friendly relations between the ROC and its diplomatic allies in the Caribbean region.
Commenting on the successes of "viable diplomacy," President Ma stated that he has eschewed the "scorched earth diplomacy" and "checkbook diplomacy" of the past in favor of a "viable diplomacy" characterized by flexibility and pragmatism. Promising to implement this policy clear through to his last day in office on May 19, the president expressed hope that his successor will continue along the same path. In addition, he noted, that although his predecessor managed to establish diplomatic relations with three new partners during his eight years in office, his predecessor also lost nine other diplomatic allies, for a net loss of six. When President Ma came to office, in contrast, the ROC had 23 diplomatic allies, and while Gambia has unfortunately severed relations, the Gambian president made that decision for personal reasons; it was neither a failing of the "viable diplomacy" policy, nor the result of meddling by mainland China. The president stressed that relations with all of the ROC's 22 diplomatic allies are very stable.
President Ma also mentioned that the cumulative foreign affairs budget over the past eight years totaled NT$224.6 billion, down by about NT$16.3 billion from the figure of NT$240.9 billion during the eight-year term of his predecessor. On average, therefore, he has spent roughly NT$2 billion less each year than the previous president. In fact, he said, by making the correct decision and adopting a policy of "viable diplomacy," it has been possible to achieve better diplomatic results while working with a slightly smaller budget. As an example, he pointed to the fact that 161 nations and areas throughout the world now provide visa-free courtesies or landing visas to ROC nationals, "and the number is still increasing; it's going to go up further before I leave office."
Noting that the delegation was expected to travel some 30,000 kilometers on this trip, President Ma nevertheless said the people on his team have always been "as tough as triathletes." Reminding everyone of the packed schedule awaiting them, the president urged the delegation members to get a good rest on the plane and be refreshed and ready for the challenges lying ahead.