President Lee Teng-hui this morning meets with Mr. Edwin Feulner, Jr., president of the Heritage Foundation, a U.S. think-tank founded in 1973.
President Lee tells his guest that the ROC government and people possess great resilience which enables them to make self-adjustment to cope with rapidly changing international circumstances and trends.
Having devoted herself to economic development and political reform in the past years, he adds, the ROC has achieved great success in both fields and won worldwide acclaim.
President Feulner congratulates President Lee on his winning his second term and presents him with a copy of the 1997 edition of the "Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom," in which the ROC is rated as the seventh freest economy in the world.
He also exchanges views with President Lee on current ROC economic and political situation as well as relations between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
President Lee reiterates that he will do his best to implement judicial, educational, administrative and cultural reforms during his tenure to make the ROC a democratic, modern country.
President Feulner is accompanied by ROC Vice Foreign Minister Chen Chien-jen to the Office of the President for the meeting. Also present are Dr. Ding Mou-shih, secretary-general of the ROC National Security Council, and Mr. Stephen S.F. Chen, deputy secretary-general to the President.