President Ma Ying-jeou spoke about the effectiveness of his cross-strait policy at the opening of a forum on Taiwan, US and Japan relations in Taipei.
“The Republic of China’s viable diplomacy also brought an end to an era of checkbook diplomacy," said Ma.
"So over the past 7 years, the ROC’s international image has gone from troublemaker to peacemaker, and in the international community, the ROC has become an asset rather than a liability.”
In the past 7 years, Ma has maintained a “no unification, no independence and no military force” policy in dealing with China. He also said that the 1992 Consensus, in which both sides have their interpretation of one China, has brought cross-strait relations to its best in 60 years.
President Ma also cast doubt on DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s proposal of maintaining the status quo.
"But who knows whether the status quo she’s talking about is the status quo of peace and stability that we have created and experienced for the past 7 years or is she talking about the status quo that preceded my administration in which there was no cross-strait foundation of mutual trust and the status quo consisted of Taiwan [being] perceived by the international community as a troublemaker. So I can only hope that the status quo is the former rather than the latter," said Ma.
President Ma also said he would strengthen ties between Taiwan, the US and Japan.