The ROC has always striven to be a responsible stakeholder in the international community by building mutually beneficial relationships with other countries, maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait and promoting peace in the Asia-Pacific region, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said today at the International Symposium on Regional Security and Transnational Crime held in Taipei by the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau.
The process of globalization has created a complex web of interdependent relationships where countries must maintain a delicate balance between competition and cooperation, Jiang continued. While traditional military and sovereignty disputes continue to flare up, nontraditional security threats are also on the rise—ranging from financial instability and transnational terrorism to money laundering and cyber crime. These problems test the wisdom of governments and reveal the inseparable nature of national and regional security.
"The ROC is in a unique situation in the world community. Despite our diplomatic difficulties, we have never shied away from our challenges and have made every effort to be a responsible stakeholder."
Occupying a strategic position in East Asia, Taiwan is critical to the security of the entire Asia-Pacific; its stable relationship with mainland China is also a bedrock for regional peace. Jiang said that since President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, the administration's cross-strait policy has been to put Taiwan first for the benefit of the people, following a principle of addressing easy matters before the difficult ones, the urgent before the non-pressing, and the economic before the political. Over the past five years, the two sides have signed 19 agreements including the 2009 Cross-strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement. With expanding collaboration in narcotics control, cross-border fraud prevention and fugitive extradition, relations between Taiwan and the mainland are at their most stable in six decades.
As for the economic and territorial disputes in the East and South China seas, President Ma's East China Sea Peace Initiative calls on all countries concerned to shelve their disputes and explore the waters' natural resources together. Confrontation must be replaced by dialogue and negotiation, the premier said, because the surest way to arrive at regional security is through peace, cooperation and shared prosperity.