Former US president Bill Clinton, who arrived last night on a less-than-24 hour visit to Taipei, lauded President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) cross-strait policy over dinner before making a speech on Taiwan’s economic future at the Taiwan International Convention Center.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who attended the event, arrived about 10 minutes late, and Clinton’s speech began about 15 minutes later than scheduled.
Prior to the event, Clinton, who landed at Taipei’s Songshan Military Airport on a private jet, attended a welcoming banquet hosted by Ma and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長).
Photo: EPA
Afterward, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) provided reporters with an overview of the discussion between Clinton and Ma during the vegetarian dinner. Clinton allegedly commended Ma’s cross-strait policies, in particular the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, Yang said.
Ma and Clinton touched on the development of the political scene in East Asia and also discussed Taiwan’s democratic development, he said.
Clinton told Ma he once told former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) not to worry about Taiwanese democracy, Yang quoted him as saying.
“He [Clinton] said there are two kinds of pain. One is [a] toothache. If we leave it alone, it may get worse. The other kind is a child’s skin scrape. If we leave them alone, the wounds will heal by themselves,” Yang said.
“The issue of Taiwan is like the scrape. If we leave the scrapes alone, they will recover. The Taiwan issue will be resolved as time goes by,” he quoted Clinton as saying.
A participant of last night’s speech who spoke on condition of anonymity said the conference hall was about three-fourths full, but two-thirds of the 300 VIP seats were empty.
Data from the organizers showed that the prices of the tickets ranged between NT$1,800 and NT$12,000.
Clinton is scheduled to leave Taiwan in this afternoon.
This was Clinton’s sixth visit to Taiwan, his most recent being in 2005.
At press time, Clinton’s speech was ongoing.
See Clinton on page 2
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