President Ma to US Academics: Taiwan a “Responsible Stakeholder” for Regional Stability

On April 16, 2013, President Ma Ying-jeou held his fourth videoconference with US scholars since he took office in 2008. The participants on this occasion were all people of considerable influence. The moderator was former secretary of state Con­do­leezza Rice, and the discussion group was composed of Larry Diamond, director of the CDDRL (who has been invited to Taiwan on several occasions in the past); Gary Roughead, former US chief of naval operations, and Francis Fu­ku­yama, author of The End of History and the Last Man and currently the Olivier Nomellini senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford.

President Ma began his prepared remarks by pointing to the fact that five years ago the two main flashpoints in East Asia were the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, but whereas today the Korean Peninsula is in the midst of crisis, and North Korea continues its saber rattling and has even claimed that it has abrogated the 1953 Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War, tensions in the Taiwan Strait have been sharply reduced, and there is a cross-strait consensus on continuing to advance toward peace and prosperity.

President Ma Ying-jeou recently held a videoconference with several major figures in the US scholarly community, including former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice (right photo), during which he discussed his administration’s policies to promote cross-strait peace and strengthen Taiwan–US ties.

Ma explained Taiwan’s guiding principles for dealing with the difficult issue of ensuring cross-strait peace: “easy matters before difficult ones, pressing matters before less pressing ones, and economic matters before political ones,” as well as “setting a clear agenda from the start to prevent cross-strait dialogue from being bogged down by intractable issues.”

Under this “building blocks” approach, as Ma described it, the two sides have signed 18 agreements over the past five years, including ones covering direct flights and shipping, tourism, economic and trade relations, protection of intellectual property rights, nuclear safety, and mutual assistance on judicial matters.

Today, there are 616 scheduled flights per week across the Taiwan Strait. In 2012, 2.5 million mainland Chinese tourists visited Taiwan. And in sharp contrast to the outbreak of SARS in 2003, when mainland China ignored Taiwan’s needs and refused to make essential information public, after the recent outbreak of H7N9 avian flu in the mainland, public health experts on the two sides immediately set up channels for cooperation to prevent the spread of the disease.

President Ma emphasized that in the future Taiwan will play the role of a regional “responsible stakeholder” and will promote the application of the cross-strait model of accommodation to the resolution of other international conflicts.

As one case in point, he noted, “Last August my administration proposed an East China Sea Peace Initiative, urging that negotiation take precedence over confrontation” with respect to the Diao­yu­tai Islets dispute. Then in November of 2012, Tai­pei and Tokyo reopened long-stalled negotiations over fisheries rights in the East China Sea and, after 16 previous rounds since 1996 had failed, reached an important agreement. (For details, see the next article.) This was possible only because both sides decided to shelve irreconcilable territorial claims and instead work together on technical, practical means to jointly conserve and manage fisheries resources in the disputed area.

Former secretary of state Rice at one point expressed concern about whether the increasingly close links between Taiwan and mainland China might not affect the Taiwan–US relationship.

Ma reiterated that the US is an important economic and security partner for Taiwan. Noting that the US is still Taiwan’s third largest trading partner, he said: “However large a trading partner mainland China is to Taiwan, we definitely want to deepen our economic ties with the United States.” He also remarked that harmonious relations between Taiwan and mainland China are in the best interests of the entire international community, including the US.

Ma also pointed to several specific examples of improved Taiwan–US ties. For instance, following the resolution of the dispute over US beef imports into Taiwan, the two sides resumed the regular pattern of negotiations that have taken place since 1994 under the Taiwan–US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). Also, last November the US added Taiwan to its Visa Waiver Program, making Taiwan the 37th nation in the world to secure that status, and the only one without formal diplomatic ties. This shows that the US recognizes and appreciates Taiwan’s efforts to deepen bilateral relations.

Looking to the future, in the interests of both economic prosperity and national security, Taiwan will endeavor to be included in international organizations such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Taiwan will also, with the help of the US, continue to strengthen its national defense capabilities.

The videoconference proved to be a very meaningful opportunity for President Ma to explicate Taiwan’s experience in pursuing cross-strait peace and its determination to strengthen ties with the US. And he assured his listeners that Taiwan, proud to be the first democracy in a Chinese society, will continue to work hard to be a model citizen of the world.