Kiaora, tena kautau katoa
Honorable Peter Dunne, Honorable members of Parliament, His Worship George Wood, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

Good evening. As the Representative of Taiwan based in Auckland, it is a privilege and great pleasure to welcome all of you here and share in our celebration of the National Day of the Republic of China.

As you are fully aware that Taiwan is a full-fledged democracy and a success story in Asia. In Taiwan we cherish universal value, namely freedom, democracy, human rights and peace as well as other democratic countries in the world. People in Taiwan fully enjoy freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and association, freedom of belief and freedom of press. Nowadays, we are very proud of being a real democratic country. And a real democratic nation should not be excluded by the United Nations. Indeed, Taiwan is willing to become a member of the United Nations because Taiwan can make great contribution to the world peace and prosperity. Unfortunately, the United Nations has long excluded Taiwan from participation. Last month the United Nations once again rejected Taiwan’s UN membership bid. But we will never give up pushing UN membership application from time to time. Next year no matter who will win the presidential election or which party becomes the ruling party, Taiwan’s UN membership bid will be carried on.

Taiwan is an independent sovereign state as well as a free and peace-loving country. In connection with cross-strait relation, Taiwan is Taiwan , China is China . And Taiwan is not part of China absolutely. However, peace and stability still remain key components of Taiwan’s cross-strait policy. Indeed, Taiwan has shown willingness to resume dialogue and consultation with China based on the four principles, namely principle of sovereignty, principle of democracy, principle of peace and principle of parity. Considering the regional security and stability as well as the global security and stability, Taiwan always looks forward to a reciprocal goodwill from China and hopes that Bejing will abandon its hostile stance toward Taiwan, replace confrontation with negotiation, conflict with dialogue, and conduct cross-strait relations pragmatically. In return, China still coerces Taiwan even by making the deployment of 1,000 missiles aimed at Taiwan. However, we sincerely wish that cross-strait issue will be resolved peacefully in the future.

Taiwan is a small country with large population around 23 millions. But Taiwan has made a wonderful economic achievement. Taiwan currently ranks as the world 17th largest economy, the 16th largest trading nation and stands as the 7th largest foreign investment nation in the world. In particular, Taiwan has played a crucial role in the world IT market, and ranks as the 2nd largest producer of computer-related products in the world.

The total foreign trade value has reached around US $ 426 billions with trade surplus about US$ 22billions. And Foreign Exchange Reserve has reached around US$ 266 billions, the 3rd largest holder in the world. In connection with economic performance, what makes Taiwan so tick? In fact, Taiwan is a gateway to Asia and has some competitive advantages such as:

» Deep industrial base and strong vertical integration in IT and electronics sectors
» Well-established network of industrial zones and high-tech industrial clusters
» Strong industrial Research and Development capabilities and
» Advanced harbor infrastructure and a central hub for Asian transportation routes

Concerning bilateral relation between Taiwan and New Zealand, although we have no political and diplomatic links, still we can enhance economic and trade and cultural relationship and various cooperation such as agricultural , scientific, academic medical and biotec cooperation. Looking back the past year, exchanged visits are still frequent. Two months ago, a delegation led by Dr. Chen Chien-Jen , Chairman of National Science Council visited New Zealand. The aim of his visit was to explore the possibility of cooperation in medical, scientific and horticulture fields between our two countries.

At the moment, we are delighted to see that the two-way trade between New Zealand and Taiwan has reached around NZ$1.5 billion in favor of New Zealand, making Taiwan the 8th largest market of New Zealand and 14th largest sources of imports of New Zealand. Overall, the total trade volume between New Zealand and Taiwan is not so big and still leave more rooms to be expanded in the future. We should try every effort to boost two way trade in the years ahead. As you know New Zealand and Taiwan are members of WTO and APEC, I think both sides can enhance bilateral cooperation within the frameworks of WTO and APEC.
Next week the 14th bilateral economic consultations and the 19th New Zealand-Taiwan Business Council Conference will be held in Wellington and Auckland respectively. It is indeed a very good platform for both sides to discuss matters of common concerns in economic, trade, investment and other related issues. Through this sort of mechanism, we can establish more closer economic relationship and promote various cooperation. I wish these two conferences every success.

The Taiwanese community is particular strong in Auckland.
I am sure they will make great contribution to New Zealand.
Concerning the future cooperation and prospects between our two countries, we are aware New Zealand has already set its priority for growth and innovation strategy to three areas, namely biotech, ICT and creative industries. In Taiwan, we have very strong information and communication industries, as well as biotech and creative industries. I am sure we can work together and promote better opportunities for our markets. Based on mutual benefit, we wish to enhance more closer economic relationship and establish a wide range of bilateral cooperation in the future.

Finally, I wish to thank you again for your gracious presence and steadfast support over the past years. And we are looking forward to your continued support in the years ahead.

Thank you!