Taipei, July 26 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday that Taiwan will have to pay the price for economic reforms or it will not reap the fruit of those reforms.
The president made the remarks when he received a Japanese delegation from an ROC-Japanese committee that visited the Presidential Office to promote e-commerce exchange.
Chen told his Japanese visitors that faced with the sluggish global economy, both Taiwan and Japan have to work toward overcoming the difficulties, adding that the ongoing Economic Development Advisory Conference (EDAC) in Taiwan is a "national union across the party spectrum" that realizes that "the economy" is the lifeline of Taiwan and that only if the economy improves can Taiwan enjoy continuing development.
The president quoted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who said that "one must pay a painful price for successful reforms," adding that without paying the price, there will be no fruits of reforms.
He said the EDAC will also have to make daring breakthroughs, be creative and pay a painful price during the process of reforms. "Despite the difficulties, we still have unwavering confidence," Chen said, noting that Japan rose from the ashes of World War II to its present prosperity, while Taiwan has weathered an oil crisis, the severing of diplomatic ties with the United States, the 1996 missile crisis in the Taiwan Strait and the devastating Sept. 21 earthquake of 1999.
He also said that the Taiwan and Japanese people share the same characteristics of resilience and steadfastness and that in the traumatic period of economic reforms, both countries will be able to weather the difficulties.