On the morning of November 26, President Lai Ching-te met with a delegation led by United States Senator Jeff Merkley, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. In remarks, President Lai stated that in addition to strengthening security cooperation, he hopes that Taiwan and the US will strive together to construct reliable supply chains, continue to deepen our bilateral economic and trade partnership, create an environment even more conducive to economic and trade exchanges, and make even greater contributions to regional peace and stability and global prosperity and development.
A translation of President Lai’s remarks follows:
I warmly welcome Senator Merkley and the members of staff in his delegation. Senator Merkley’s last visit to Taiwan was in 2000. He is now visiting at an important moment in time 24 years later, showing support for Taiwan through concrete action. I want to thank Senator Merkley for having spoken up for Taiwan over many years in the US Congress. He has introduced many Taiwan-friendly initiatives in support of stronger Taiwan-US relations and greater international space for Taiwan.
The Taiwan Relations Act was passed by Congress 45 years ago. It has become an important foundation for Taiwan-US security cooperation, as well as the development of a comprehensive partnership. Senator Merkley, along with Senator Marco Rubio, last year reintroduced the Taiwan Relations Reinforcement Act. This year, they introduced a resolution recognizing the 45th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act. These actions show Senator Merkley’s strong support for Taiwan.
Over the past 24 years, Taiwan has changed significantly. The only thing that hasn’t changed is China’s increasing threats to Taiwan. Taiwan will neither yield nor provoke, and maintain the status quo to maintain regional peace and stability. And we will always uphold our commitment to a free and democratic constitutional system, our commitment that the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, our commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty, and our commitment that the future of the Republic of China Taiwan will be decided by its 23 million people.
We will continue to do our utmost to strengthen our national defense, whether through military procurement or by boosting self-sufficiency in national defense. Before former President Tsai Ing-wen’s administration, Taiwan’s GDP totaled NT$17 trillion, and our defense budget accounted for 1.8 percent of the GDP, amounting to around NT$300 billion. However, after the eight years former President Tsai was in office, Taiwan’s GDP last year reached NT$23 trillion, and our national defense budget accounted for 2.5 percent of the GDP, or about NT$600 billion plus. In other words, over the past eight years, our national defense budget increased by 80 percent. Moving forward, Taiwan will continue to strengthen our national defense through asymmetric capabilities and show the international community our determination to protect our homeland.
We will also continue to increase our economic resilience. Back in 2011, Taiwanese investment in China accounted for 80 percent of total outbound investment. However, by the end of last year, that figure had dropped to 11.4 percent, while investment in the US stood at roughly 42 percent. This means Taiwan no longer puts all our eggs in one basket, but continues to strengthen cooperation in supply chains for global democracies. We hope to stand side by side with the democratic community and demonstrate the strength of deterrence so as to maintain regional peace and stability.
In addition to strengthening security cooperation, we hope that Taiwan and the US will strive together to construct reliable supply chains to advance global prosperity and development. In recent years, promotion of the Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st-Century Trade has continued to deepen our bilateral economic and trade partnership. I believe that follow-up negotiations will lead to even greater outcomes.
We also hope that with support from Congress, legislation for avoidance of double taxation between Taiwan and the US can be completed this year. This will create an environment even more conducive to economic and trade exchanges and increase bilateral investment, industrial cooperation, and economic resilience.
In closing, I thank our distinguished guests for traveling so far to make this visit and demonstrate rock-solid support for Taiwan. Let us continue to collaborate and make even greater contributions to regional peace and stability and global prosperity and development. I wish you all a pleasant and successful visit, and that your time in Taiwan creates lasting memories.
Senator Merkley then delivered remarks, saying that he felt it was very important to come here at this moment to reaccentuate the connection between the US and Taiwan. Remarking that sometimes we need to take a pause from the most serious issues in the world, he offered congratulations to Taiwan for winning the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship after Japan had won 27 times in a row, saying that he knows that this is going to be long remembered here.
Senator Merkley stated that as President Lai indicated, he was here in the year 2000 during Taiwan’s second presidential election. He said that many issues were being debated, and one could feel the sense of freedom as people weighed in on many issues. However, he said, democracies are, in the beginning, like a fragile flower, and they have to be nurtured to thrive. Now being in Taiwan after its eighth presidential election, he said that Taiwan has nurtured its democracy to one of the strongest in the world, and offered congratulations to President Lai on his election and to Taiwan for building this strong commitment to our shared values of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion.
Senator Merkley remarked that during these years, there’s been a very strong connection between his home state of Oregon and Taiwan. Oregon has two cities that have sister partnerships with cities in Taiwan, he said, with many Oregon businesses investing in Taiwan and many Taiwanese investments in Oregon.
The senator indicated that when he came to Taiwan in 2000 while serving as a representative in the state legislature, he saw Taiwan’s democracy and became a lifelong fan. Upon going to the US Senate, he said, he was determined to advocate for the relationship between the US and Taiwan. Senator Merkley noted that he has worked with Senator Rubio, who is on the Republican side of the aisle, while he himself is on the Democratic side of the aisle. However, he said, both are united in their support for Taiwan, and were the leads of the Taiwan Relations Reinforcement Act, also partnering in a number of resolutions reaffirming the US-Taiwan relationship.
Senator Merkley emphasized that he will do everything while he is a US senator to keep reinforcing the connection between our two democracies, embracing the fields of military security and connectivity to the world, and be it climate change or natural disaster, resilience to respond to the challenges we face. To close, the senator stated that he wanted to be in Taiwan as the US approaches a presidential transition to reaffirm that the House and Senate of the US, and the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle stand together in partnership with Taiwan, and that he very much looks forward to continuing that effort.
The delegation was accompanied to the Presidential Office by American Institute in Taiwan Taipei Office Director Raymond Greene.
