Government’s pragmatic approach has made good results, says Ma
CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY
President Ma Ying-jeou pledged Saturday to seek continued improvement in Taiwan’s relations with China by gradually building trust.
Addressing the issue in his National Day speech, Ma said the pragmatic approach adopted by his administration in dealing with cross-Taiwan Strait issues has led to greatly improved relations and expanded scope of cooperation between the two sides over the past year.
This is evidenced by the signing of nine agreements covering areas such as visits to Taiwan by Chinese tourists, direct air, sea and postal links, food safety inspections and cross-strait crime-fighting cooperation, Ma said.
Currently, Taiwan is seeking to sign memorandums of understanding on financial supervisory cooperation and an economic cooperation framework agreement with China, he noted.
However, he pointed out, cross-strait differences and concerns are rooted in historical factors that cannot be overcome all at once.
“To achieve further peaceful development of our relations, both sides must remain patient, face the practical realities and move forward in a gradual, orderly manner, so as to build mutual trust and find common ground amid our differences,” Ma said.
In the process, he stressed, the government will ensure that the country’s sovereignty and the people’s well-being are protected.
According to Ma, the improvement of cross-strait ties is beneficial to Taiwan’s relations with other countries as well.
Under his administration’s policy of “flexible diplomacy, “the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have refrained from attempts to lure each other’s diplomatic allies, which in turn has helped to stabilize Taiwan’s relations with its diplomatic allies and enhance its international status, Ma said.
One of such examples, he said, was breakthrough achieved during the 2008 Asia Pacific Economic forum in Peru, in which former Vice President Lien Chan was allowed to attend the leaders meeting, which made him the highest-ranking former ROC official ever allowed to take part in the annual summit.
This year, Taiwan officially gained accession to the Government Procurement Agreement and was invited to attend the World Health Assembly -- the World Health Organization’s decision-making arm -- as an observer for the first time, Ma noted.
In terms of Taiwan’s progress in international sports events, Ma pointed out that he was allowed to formally open the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung in July and the 2009 Summer Deaflympics in Taipei in September in his capacity as president of the host nation, which was a first in both cases.
“Flexible diplomacy is diplomacy of integrity, humanitarian diplomacy, as well as soft-power diplomacy,” the president said. “It not only has given Taiwan more space to maneuver internationally, but has also won the respect of the international community.”
In line with this pragmatic and flexible approach, the administration has since last year abandoned futile confrontations in its bid to rejoin the United Nations system and has revised its goals to give priority to participation in U.N. specialized agencies and their activities, he noted.
However, despite the dramatic improvement in cross-strait relations, Taiwan has not overlooked the military threat posed by China and will stick to a defense strategy of “effective deterrence and resolute defense” to protect the country’s security, the president said.
