President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that he was not against El Salvador developing “unofficial” trade relations with China.
Ma said the country’s relationship with its Central American ally has been sound and that bilateral cooperation was multifaceted.
When he attended the inauguration of Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes in June last year, Ma said Funes told him his new administration would maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, to which Ma replied that he was deeply “touched.”
“We will continue to strengthen bilateral ties,” he said. “As we have engaged in reconciliation with mainland China in various areas, we are not against seeing El Salvador develop an unofficial trade relationship with mainland China because it has always been our policy.”
Ma made the remarks while receiving a delegation led by Salvadoran Minister of Foreign Affairs Hugo Roger Martinez Bonilla at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
During his meeting with Ma in June, Funes, who supported closer relations with Beijing during his election campaign, said his administration would like to develop business relations with China.
Ma told Funes he was not against the idea, but hoped his administration would continue its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan as the two were not mutually exclusive.
During interviews with Salvadoran media during the trip, Ma touted his cross-strait policy, saying a flexible approach had improved relations across the Taiwan Strait.
“Under such circumstances, El Salvador does not have to take sides because you can keep diplomatic ties with Taiwan and develop trade relations with China,” he said.
Earlier yesterday morning, Ma attended a memorial service at former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) mausoleum in Touliao (頭寮). Yesterday marked the 22nd anniversary of Chiang’s death.
Ma, who served as Chiang’s secretary and English interpreter for more than six years, considered the late president his mentor and pays his respects to him each year on the anniversary of his birth and death.
To mark the 100th anniversary of Chiang’s birth in April last year, Ma held several activities, including inviting senior politicians such as former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) to attend a commemoration event at the Presidential Office. The Democratic Progressive Party caucus, however, at the time was irritated after Cabinet officials and ministers missed legislative meetings to accompany Ma in attending the memorial service at Chiang’s mausoleum.
After he won the presidential elections in March 2008, Ma also wept when he and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) led party members to visit Chiang’s mausoleum in April that same year.
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