President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday expressed hope that the nation will participate in the Asia-Pacific Community as proposed by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Ma thanked Rudd for proposing to include Taiwan in the new body and said Taiwan hoped to participate in the preparatory work.
Rudd proposed the economic and security grouping last year, with a goal of forming it by 2020 and covering a wide region, including the US, Japan, China, India, Indonesia and Taiwan.
The Asia-Pacific Community could learn from the EU, but would not exactly mirror it, he said.
Rudd’s call was prompted by Asia’s growing economic and strategic importance, and he said Australia needed to position itself to make a strong contribution in the region.
Rudd envisions a body with a broader scope than platforms like APEC, ASEAN or the East Asia Summit.
Ma made the remarks while meeting an Australian delegation led by Member of Parliament David Hawker at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
Australia is Taiwan’s most important friend in the South Pacific, Ma said.
“Despite the lack of diplomatic relations, the two countries are very close and have signed more than 10 bilateral agreements,” he said.
When he visited Australia in 2006, Ma said, many expressed concern about the rivalry between Taipei and Beijing in the South Pacific. Such concerns inspired him to propose his policy of declaring a “diplomatic truce” with Beijing, he said.
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