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Ma to meet former foreign ministers

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is expected to meet former foreign ministers today to go over his foreign policy of “modus vivendi” and “diplomatic truce” with Beijing, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yi-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday.

Ma is to give a detailed overview of his policies over two meetings, Wang said.

A “modus vivendi” with China was one of the major foreign policy initiatives Ma promoted during the election campaign. He had pledged to adopt “flexible diplomacy” to end the country’s diplomatic isolation, to launch pragmatic negotiations with Beijing and to not oppose allies developing relations with Beijing unless Taiwan’s interests were threatened.

Following his victory in the March presidential election, Ma also proposed that Taiwan should seek a “diplomatic truce” with China by improving cross-strait relations and putting an end to the animosity across the Taiwan Strait.

Ma is scheduled to host a dinner in honor of Foreign Minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) and former ministers including Jason Hu (胡志強), Frederick Fu (錢復), Lien Chan (連戰), Ting Mao-shih (丁懋時), Chen Chien-jen (程建人) and Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) at the Taipei Guest House tonight.

Wang said yesterday that recent developments in cross-strait relations — including opening up cross-strait weekend charter flights and allowing more Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, as well as Beijing’s decision to refer to the Taiwanese Olympic team as Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北, Chinese Taipei) rather than Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北, Taipei, China) — reflected the Ma administration’s efforts to find a “modus vivendi” with the international community.

Ma will use the occasion to compare his foreign policies with the “scorched-earth diplomacy” of the Democratic Progressive Party administration and promote his “flexible diplomacy” to the international community, Wang said.

At a separate setting yesterday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said that Ma was expected to visit the ministry tomorrow to expand on his idea of a “diplomatic truce” as well as offer encouragement to ministry personnel.

“President Ma will visit the ministry for about one hour to give his instructions and vision for Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts,” Chen said.

Ma, accompanied by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), visited the Mainland Affairs Council on Tuesday.

Ou is scheduled to give a short briefing before Ma makes his comments. Ou, a former representative to Spain and ambassador to Guatemala, will accompany Ma on his trip to Paraguay and the Dominican Republic from Aug. 12 to Aug. 19.

Additional reporting by Jenny W. Hsu
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