President Ma hails visits by DPP figures to China

"Despite some criticisms, I hope DPP figures can continue such an approach to help build a healthy relationship between Taiwan and China," said the president during a banquet in Belize with Taiwanese expatriates on the first leg of his three-country Central American tour.

Traveling at the head of a 159-member delegation, Ma flew into Belmopan, capital of Belize, earlier Wednesday, after an overnight stopover in Los Angeles.

He is scheduled to spend two nights in Guatemala after the Belize visit and will then travel to El Salvador to attend the June 1 inauguration of President-elect Mauricio Funes.

Ma stressed that improving Taiwan-China ties is not an exclusive privilege of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT).

"Rather, it is a correct path that all Taiwan's political parties should walk on, because Taiwan needs to reach out and survive," Ma said.

The KMT favors strengthening relations with China, especially trade links, while the DPP, on the other hand, has warned that some of Ma's China-friendly policies could jeopardize Taiwan's sovereignty.

In his speech, the president highly praised the visit to Beijing and Shanghai last week by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, a DPP heavyweight, to promote this summer's World Games in the city.

He also said he was happy to learn that Tainan City Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair, also a DPP member, is planning to visit Xiamen in southeastern China next month. He added that a China visit by Yunlin County Magistrate Su Chih-fen, another DPP member, last year to promote local fruits was also correct.

Ma encouraged DPP members to continue this approach bravely for the sake of Taiwan and its people.

"It is time that the two sides exchange their experiences and advance interactions to stabilize the situation across the Taiwan Strait and help create peace and prosperity in the region," he said.

"Doing so will not sell out either Taiwan's independent sovereignty or national dignity, and as head of state, I have full responsibility of taking the lead," he stressed.

According to Ma, he also mentioned this point to Raymond Burghardt, chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan and top U.S. liaison official with Taiwan due to absence of diplomatic ties, during a meeting Tuesday in Los Angeles.

He noted that in the early 1990s, Taiwan could purchase F-16 jets from the United States and buy Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets from France, while also reaching a critical "1992 consensus" with Beijing allowing either side to interpret the so-called "one China" on its own.

"Developing sound cross-strait relations do not go against Taiwan's pursuit of forging international links, and on the contrary, they should be mutually beneficial," Ma told his audience.

He cited as an example Taiwan's participation in this year's World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer earlier this month in Geneva after 12 years of abortive efforts, thanks to improved cross-strait ties over the past year.

China had previously blocked Taiwan's attempts to participate in the WHA, due to tense relations and fears of Taipei asserting itself as a country.

"Although Taiwan and China have yet to negotiate on a diplomatic truce, goodwill from both sides was the key to Taiwan's participation at the WHA," Ma noted.

This is Ma's second diplomatic tour since he assumed the presidency on May 20, 2008.

Ma will depart El Salvador on June 2 for Seattle, where he will stay overnight before returning to Taipei on June 4.

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