Taipei, July 12 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday he looks forward to seeing major breakthroughs in high-level exchanges and economic cooperation between the Republic of China and New Zealand.
Chen made the appeal while meeting with three influential New Zealand parliamentarians -- Wyatt Creech, Max Bradford and John Luxton.
Chen said ROC-New Zealand trade amounted to US$610 million last year, with New Zealand enjoying a trade surplus of US$150 million. "The ROC is now New Zealand's ninth-largest trading partner. But the two countries have little high-level exchanges due to New Zealand's adherence to the so-called 'one China' policy," Chen said.
In view of steadily growing bilateral trade, Chen said, the ROC government has made it a major policy goal to upgrade substantive relations with New Zealand.
Noting that New Zealand is an independent sovereign state, Chen said he thinks that there is room for New Zealand to revise its "one China" stance.
Chen pointed to the United States as an example. "Although the United States does not maintain formal diplomatic ties with the ROC, it agreed to my transit stops in New York and Houston recently and didn't oppose my meetings with many members of Congress during my stay in the two American cities," Chen said.
Moreover, Chen said the U.S. health secretary voiced public support for the ROC's bid to join the World Health Organization as an observer earlier this year. "We hope that the New Zealand government can refer to the U.S. experience in revising or adjusting its engagement with Taiwan," Chen said.
He went on to say that the ROC and New Zealand share a common belief in such universal values as human rights, democracy and freedom and also have common expectations of maintaining regional stability and security.
In addition, Chen said, the two countries share common interests in boosting bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Therefore, Chen said he will continue pushing for closer ROC-New Zealand relations during his term in office.
Chen became president in May 2000 in the ROC's first-ever democratic transfer of power between different political parties. "The historic transition of power has made the ROC a true democracy. We treasured this event as it marked our embrace of the prevailing world trend at the end of 20th century," Chen said.
Chen also told his guests that Taiwan will never adopt a closed door policy and will continue promoting economic liberalization and globalization. "We hope to join the World Trade Organization and our market will be ever more liberal and open," Chen added.
For their part, the visiting New Zealand parliamentarians said their country now has many Taiwan immigrants. "We welcome Taiwan immigrants as they have contributed much to New Zealand's economic development," said Creech, also a former deputy prime minister.
Creech said he also hopes to see political, economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between the ROC and New Zealand increase steadily.
As for relations across the Taiwan Strait, Creech said New Zealand is willing to use various channels to help persuade mainland China to resolve cross-strait disputes by peaceful means.