President Ma Ying-jeou spoke on Sunday about how a fishing agreement with the Philippines last year had led to a decrease in disputes between the two countries. The president’s remarks came when receiving the visiting president of Caritas Internationalis, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who is the Archbishop of Manila.
Caritas Internationalis is a federation of Catholic relief, development and social service organizations, operating in over 200 countries and territories.
President Ma said that the fishing agreement, signed last November, had not only helped decrease the number of fishing disputes, it was also a landmark agreement in ties with the Philippines. Ma said that during his eight years in office, one of his most important missions has been to play the role of peacemaker and provider of international assistance.
The president also spoke about relations with the Vatican. He said that ties between the Republic of China (which is the official name of Taiwan) and the Vatican had been going strong for 74 years. The Vatican is Taiwan’s only official diplomatic ally in Europe. Ma pointed to the Vatican’s decision to lend some of its treasures to Taiwan’s National Palace Museum, in the first large-scale lending of its kind.