President Ma: Nuclear safety an important issue

President Ma: Nuclear safety to be an important issue in cross-strait talks

President Ma Ying-jeou says nuclear safety will become an important issue in cross-strait talks. He was speaking on Tuesday while receiving former US Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, in Taipei.

"The Japanese power plant in Fukushima is over 2,000 kilometers from Taiwan, but Mainland China is only 200 kilometers away. Therefore a nuclear crisis in Mainland China would be far more disastrous to Taiwan," said Ma. "While we are currently trying to improve facilities at our three running nuclear power plants, we are also hoping to work with Mainland China to prevent a nuclear crisis from occurring. Nuclear safety will become a major issue in future cross-strait talks."

During the meeting, President Ma also discussed cross-strait relations and US arms sales to Taiwan. Ma said that since taking office, he has been trying to improve cross-strait relations. He said he has been guided by the principles of no unification with Mainland China, no formal independence for Taiwan, and no use of military force. The president also said that over 80% of the Taiwanese people support the status quo in relations with Mainland China, and that his actions have reflected the majority opinion.

Ma said that Taiwan does not want to engage in an arms race with Mainland China. But he said Taiwan still needs to buy defensive weapons from the United States in order to give it confidence in cross-strait talks. Ma said he is glad to see that Taiwan and the United States have resumed high-level interactions. He also said he hopes that the two sides can make breakthroughs on the issues of a visa-waiver for Taiwanese citizens, an extradition treaty, and a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).

ENDS

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