Pact with China conducive for peace, says Taiwan President

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has said that cooperation between China and the Republic of China (ROC) Taiwan is conducive for peace.

The President who was transiting on a recent eight-day, three-nation diplomatic tour, made the remarks during a speech at the Los Angeles, USA chapter of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, a local union of Chinese and Taiwanese people in the southern California city.

According to Spotlight, the official newsletter of the Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Nigeria made available to daily Trade in Abuja yesterday Ma said his administration’s efforts since 2008 to improve relations with China and settle disputes in a peaceful manner have produced results “everyone can see.”

The President said it is in the best interests of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to push for the peaceful development of TaiwanChina ties under the ROC Constitution and the 1992 Consensus -an agreement that the two sides of the strait are both part of “one China,” though each side is free to interpret the meaning of the term.

Taiwan and China should leave behind their non-peaceful methods of the past in favour of cooperation and mutual help, he added.

Noting the association’s strong connection with the ROC, Ma said he had originally planned to visit the LA chapter during his last transit stop in the city in August 2013, but was unable to do so due to unexpected circumstances.

Accompanied by Taiwan’s representative to the U.S. King Pu-tsung and American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt on the visit, Ma became the first Republic of China president to visit the LA chapter, which was established 125 years ago.