Thu, Jan 28, 2010 page1

• Ma works the phones during stopover

  SAN FRANCISCO Ma visited a pharmaceutical company run by a Taiwanese expatriate, had lunch with prominent Chinese Americans and spoke by phone with US lawmakers

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Presidential Office said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was able to hold his first public activity in the US during his stopover in San Francisco on Tuesday because of the “sound interaction” between Taipei and Washington over the years.

  There had been rumors that Ma would visit the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, but instead he visited a pharmaceutical company in San Jose, IMPAX, which is run by a Taiwanese expatriate.

  Sources said Washington agreed to let Ma participate in activities outside his San Francisco hotel because Ma had kept promises he had made to Washington.

  Ma spent the morning talking to US politicians by telephone and meeting face-to-face with others in a bid to mend fences in the wake of the US beef controversy.

  Sources said Ma met San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and talked by phone with six US senators and six representatives, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Dave Camp, a Republican.

  Camp is one of the four senior US members of the House of Representatives who have suggested the US administration suspend negotiations on a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with Taipei to pressure Taiwan into honoring the beef protocol.

  All the lawmakers Ma talked to have supported Taiwan’s arms procurement package from the US, especially the F-16C/D fighter jets, sources said.

  Pelosi acknowledged Ma’s efforts to improve cross-strait relations and Taiwan’s humanitarian assistance in Haiti. She also expressed her concern about the US beef controversy, the sources said.

  The lawmakers all expressed concern that the legal changes banning the import of ground beef and bovine offal would lead to a ban on bone-in beef, the sources said, adding that Ma had reassured them it would not.

  It was important to respect the public’s doubts about the safety of US beef, although there was no scientific evidence to substantiate the fears, Ma told them. Ma said he hoped the import of bone-in beef would help build public support for and confidence in US beef.

  “Basically, they find the president’s explanation acceptable and some of them thanked the administration for its efforts to address the problem,” the sources said.

  The legislature passed an amendment to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) on Jan. 5 that bans imports of specific beef products from countries with documented cases of mad cow disease in the past decade.

  The vote reversed a deal the Ma administration had negotiated with Washington.

  The US Trade Representative Office has said there was no basis for renegotiation on the issue since Taiwan has destroyed its bilateral agreement with the US on beef imports.

  Ma has said he expected the executive branch to do its best to implement part of the protocol deemed acceptable to demonstrate the country’s sincerity in honoring the accord, which he said remains effective.

  During a lunch with members of the US Committee of 100 — an organization of Chinese American leaders — Ma said it takes wisdom to handle cross-strait relations and that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait must replace conflict with negotiations.

  Since both sides do not recognize each other, they could at least not deny each other’s ­existence, he said.

  This would leave some room for ambiguity, such as the so-called “1992 consensus” or “one China with each side having its own interpretation,” he said.

  As for relief efforts in Haiti, Ma said China did not interfere in Taiwan’s rescue efforts and both sides respected each other, which was the result of mutual trust.

  Ma also emphasized the importance of creating a system between the two sides, including an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), saying it would help lure back China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and prevent Taiwan from being marginalized.

  Pointing out that China is taking a progressive approach in lobbying the US, committee members told Ma that they suspected there would be a “big change” in Beijing after the Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Congress, scheduled for 2012.

  This is Ma’s fourth overseas trip since he took office in 2008 and the third time he has transited in San Francisco. He was due to attend yesterday’s inauguration of Honduran president-elect Porfirio Lobo Sosa.

  Before returning home, he will travel to the Dominican Republic for a brief visit to express his concern for earthquake-ravaged Haiti. His plane is carrying disaster relief supplies bound for Haiti.

  ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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