There is a real success story in Asia, and that's the Taiwan-China relationship. If we
were convening this meeting ten or fifteen years ago, Taiwan would have been one of the
top flash points in the region. Now it's at the bottom. How was that worked out? To put
it shortly and sweetly, there was a political accommodation between
pragmatic leaders on
the mainland and in Taiwan (and particularly since Ma Ying-jeou was elected president in
2008), who were determined to bridge the gap between them. They didn't solve all the problems.
Many of the most fundamental problems are still there, but they have managed to ease tensions significantly:
signing sixteen
agreements, including an economic agreement. This is the type of political accommodation
process that I would like to urge the United States, China, Japan, Korea
and the rest of Southeast Asia to address.