ROC President Ma Ying-jeou praised the state of Taiwan-U.S relations, and pledged to continue working to expand ties between the two countries across a spectrum of areas.
“Bilateral ties are at their highest level since Washington severed diplomatic relations with Taipei more than 30 years ago,” the president said. He added that the healthy state of relations is underscored by the fact that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor Hillary Clinton described Taiwan as an important partner of the U.S.
Ma’s comments came as he met a delegation from U.S.-based National Bureau of Asian Research, headed by Robert Willard, former head of U.S. Pacific Command, Feb. 13 at the Presidential Office in Taipei City.
According to the president, the spirit of the East China Sea Peace Initiative was lauded by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel during his testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Feb. 5 in Washington.
The U.S. also commended last year’s dialogue between Taiwan and the Philippines, which successfully reduced regional tensions, Ma said.
According to the president, in November 2012, the U.S. included the ROC in its Visa Waiver Program, making it the 37th country and only one which the U.S. does not formally recognize, greatly benefiting the 460,000 ROC citizens that travel to the U.S. each year.
Ma added that the ROC has purchased about US$18.3 billion of advanced weapons from the U.S. in the past five years, including the P-3C Orion submarine-hunting aircraft and Apache AH-64E attack helicopters delivered at the end of last year.
Taipei and Washington resumed Trade and Investment Framework Agreement talks in March last year, the president said, and in November Former Vice President Vincent C. Siew led a delegation of Taiwan business leaders and investors to the Select USA Summit in Washington.
“The U.S. used to be Taiwan’s biggest trading partner, whereas it now lies third behind mainland China and Japan, so there is clearly room to improve our bilateral trade and investment relations.”
Ma said that this year will be crucial to Taiwan’s economy, and that joining such blocs as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is vital to participating in regional integration and avoiding marginalization. (SDH)
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