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Ma touts 'success' of China policy
RESCUE EFFORTS: The president said that because of a
diplomatic truce, neither Taipei nor Beijing had taken advantage of the quake to
engage in political games
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER, TEGUCIGALPA
Friday, Jan 29, 2010, Page 3
The severely damaged Taiwanese embassy in Haiti is pictured
yesterday. Acting Taiwanese ambassador to Haiti Chang Tai-fu said on Wednesday
that important documents would have to be retrieved from the collapsed ruins of
the building.
PHOTO: CNA
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.
“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.
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