On the morning of April 7, President Ma Ying-jeou met with a delegation led by Fidel V. Ramos, former President of the Republic of the Philippines. In addition to thanking Mr. Ramos for his many years of support for the ROC, and his contributions to close bilateral relations, President Ma also discussed the South China Sea issue and reiterated the fact that our territory, Taiping Island (also known as Itu Aba), is an island, and not a rock or a reef.
In remarks, President Ma noted that he had greatly enjoyed his meeting with Mr. Ramos on March 4 of last year in Taipei, so it was all the more pleasant to be meeting with him again. President Ma also extended birthday greetings to Mr. Ramos, who observed his 88th birthday on March 18. President Ma further noted that Mr. Ramos has deep ties to Taiwan, because he spent several years here in his youth when his father was posted as Philippine ambassador to the ROC. He is thus an old friend who understands Taiwan extremely well.
President Ma pointed out that Mr. Ramos was president of the Philippines when Taiwan was pursuing its "go south" policy. That policy yielded excellent results, he said, thanks in no small part to the strong support of the former Philippine president, who has continued since leaving office to play a big role on the international stage. In such venues as the Boao Forum for Asia and the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), for example, he has won strong support and praise, making significant contributions to peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. He also helped launch the Taiwan-Philippines Friendship Golf Tournament (FVR Cup), and this was his eighth time leading a delegation to Taiwan. There were over 80 people in the delegation this time, including elites from a wide swath of Philippine society. So clearly, Mr. Ramos attaches great importance to his country's deep friendship with Taiwan.
President Ma remarked that even though Taiwan and the Philippines do not have official diplomatic ties, they nevertheless have maintained close cooperative relations in recent years. Regarding economic and trade ties, he stated that Taiwan is currently the seventh-largest trading partner of the Philippines, and two-way trade last year totaled US$9.27 billion, while Taiwan's foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Philippines stood at more than US$2.1 billion as of September 2015, making Taiwan the Philippines' 11-largest source of FDI. The Philippines' economy has performed quite well in recent years, with annual economic growth averaging roughly 6.5% over the past four years, which makes theirs one of the strongest economies in the ASEAN region. Their population of more than 100 million has great spending power, which has fueled strong growth in internal demand-driven markets there, so Taiwanese companies are very interested in developing Philippine markets. Given this strong foundation, President Ma expressed hope that the Philippines would agree as soon as possible to the signing of an economic cooperation agreement with Taiwan, and that it would support Taiwan in its quest to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other regional economic integration mechanisms.
President Ma mentioned that more than 180,000 Taiwanese travelers visited Boracay Island, Bohol Island, and other locations in the Philippines in 2015, up by 67% from 100,000 visitors in 2007, the year before he took office. At the same time, some 140,000 Philippine tourists came to Taiwan, up by 64% from 85,000 visitors in 2007. Such facts amply demonstrate that people-to-people ties are growing closer and closer. In addition, the 120,000 Philippine citizens working in Taiwan help spur industrial development here and provide many families with home care services, thus adding to the diversity of Taiwanese culture.
President Ma stated that during the meeting with Mr. Ramos last year he expressed hope that the latter would help persuade the Philippine government to ease visa entry requirements for Taiwanese travelers and sign a bilateral agreement for cooperation on law enforcement in fisheries matters as soon as possible. Those two objectives were achieved last year in May and November, respectively. Today, 164 nations and areas throughout the world provide visa-free courtesies or landing visas to ROC nationals, and the signing of the Agreement Concerning the Facilitation of Cooperation on Law Enforcement in Fisheries Matters has advanced the cause of bilateral cooperation while considerably reducing conflicts. In addition, Taiwan and the Philippines have acted upon this agreement by holding technical working group meetings at which they reached a consensus on establishing a hotline in line with the notification procedure laid out in the agreement's Annex A, as well as on cooperating on fighting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, advancing regional peace and cooperation.
Commenting on the South China Sea, President Ma pointed out that at a hearing of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague in late November of 2015, attorneys for the Philippines claimed that Taiping Island, which is ROC territory, is not an island, but merely a rock without fresh water that cannot be farmed and is reliant on shipments for any and all needed materials, which is completely contrary to the facts. Last year on December 12, and again this year on January 23, January 28, and March 23, the ROC arranged for experts, scholars, and journalists from Taiwan and around the world to tour the island so they could see that it has its own very high-quality fresh water, fertile soil where more than ten types of vegetables and fruits are grown, lots of chickens, sheep, dogs, and other animals, and hundreds of big, sturdy tropical trees, as well as a hospital, a post office, and a Buddhist temple. As such, it perfectly meets the definition of an island as set out in Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
President Ma also mentioned that he visited Taiping Island this past January 28 and put forward a South China Sea Peace Initiative Roadmap calling for "cooperation, not conflict," "sharing, not monopolization," "pragmatism, not intransigence," and "shelving of disputes, comprehensive planning, and zonal development" as a feasible path toward peace in the South China Sea. In addition, after journalists from Taiwan and around the world visited Taiping Island on March 23, President Ma formally invited the Philippine government to dispatch representatives or attorneys to tour the island in order to dispel misunderstandings. At the same time, he said, the five arbitrators from the Permanent Court of Arbitration are all very welcome to tour Taiping Island and see how well it supports habitation. The ROC's goal is to make the South China Sea a sea of peace and cooperation, and to build up Taiping Island as a base for peace and rescue operations, as well as an ecologically friendly and low-carbon island.
The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Deputy Foreign Minister Bruce J. D. Linghu (令狐榮達), Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Amadeo R. Perez Jr., and MECO Managing Director and Resident Representative to Taiwan Antonio I. Basilio to meet with President Ma.