President Ma Ying-jeou spoke about Taiwan’s close cooperation with the United States and upcoming goals in cross-strait relations on Tuesday. He was speaking to a visiting delegation of journalists from Hawaii’s East-West Center.
The president said Taiwan is committed to its constitution and to maintaining the status quo of no unification, no independence and no use of military force. Ma said the two sides are building relations on the basis of the 1992 Consensus of “one China, each side with its own interpretation”.
Ma said, "As we have made long-term progress in relations with the mainland, our current goal is to talk about issues such as Chinese tourists making transit stops in Taiwan, the trade in goods agreement, setting up offices in each other’s territory and joining regional economic blocs. We hope to see progress on these issues. These will be helpful in the long-term development of peaceful cross-strait relations."
He said China’s policy is that the two sides will not deny nor recognize each other. Ma also said US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel said US and Taiwan ties have made constructive progress and this is related to the progress in cross-strait relations.
President Ma said US and Taiwan had over US$66 billion in bilateral trade last year and have close exchanges on military and security issues.
Ma said, "Last December, President Obama signed legislation allowing the United States to sell four Perry-class frigates to Taipei. So in other words, our cooperation with the US, whether with the Republican or Democratic Party, is very close and will continue to be so."
President Ma also spoke to the journalists about the development of democracy and human rights in Taiwan.