President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Tuesday touted his foreign policy, saying that the rescue efforts of Taipei and Beijing in Haiti were a perfect example that his strategy of “diplomatic truce” with Beijing worked.
Ma made the remarks during his dinner with Taiwanese expatriates at his hotel in San Francisco, where he made a one-night stop-over en route to Honduras to attend the inauguration of Honduran president-elect Porfirio Lobo Sosa.
While China was aggressively involved in the rescue operations in Haiti, Ma said neither Taipei nor Beijing took advantage of the occasion to engage in political games and these efforts had received recognition from international media such as as the Washington Post.
PHOTO: CNA
“Whenever our diplomatic allies encounter problems, we are ready to help,” he said. “Our help does not go to our diplomatic allies only, but to those who need it.”
Ma told the banquet hosts that he would meet “high-ranking” Haitian officials in the Dominican Republic, where he will deliver aid goods. Ma has brought with him 10 tonnes of relief goods, including medical supplies, milk powder, cookies and canned corn. They will be transported by land from the Dominican Republic to Haiti once they arrive.
Ma had said he hoped to meet Haitian President Rene Preval in the Dominican Republic, but emphasized that he realized Preval was preoccupied with relief efforts and that it would be up to the Haitian president to decide whether he has time to meet.
Ma also commended his cross-strait policy, saying it was proceeding at a fair pace, while some were worried it was going too fast.
“It is not that we want it to be super fast,” he said. “But we are making up for the lost eight years.”
Ma said no progress was made during the eight years before he took office, stalling the country's international competitiveness and undermining Taiwan-US relations.
On the other hand, a lot of effort has been made to improve cross-strait ties and defuse possible tensions in the Taiwan Strait, as well as to enhance relations with the US and other allies since he took office in May 2008, Ma said.
At a separate setting, Paul Chang (張國葆), the director of the Presidential Office's Public Affairs Department, quoted American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt as saying that Washington would not let the controversy over the US beef imports affect relations with Taiwan.
The treatment Ma received during his transits in San Francisco was a good proof, Chang quoted Burghardt as saying in a dinner banquet hosted by Taiwanese expatriates in San Francisco on Tuesday night.
Chang said Taiwan's Air Force C-130 cargo plane was also recently allowed to land on US soil for refill on a transportation mission to Haiti, adding that it was another proof of sound Taiwan-US relations.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but