TOKYO - Taiwanese President Chen
Shui-bian called on all countries in the Asia-Pacific
area on Thursday jointly to hammer out an
effective strategy to cope with mainland China's growing
"magnetic effect" in luring foreign investment.
Chen made the appeal in a written congratulatory
address to the 30th Symposium on Issues of Mainland
China, which opened in Tokyo under the auspices of the
International Relations Center of National Chengchi
University (NCU) . The symposium was attended by more than
100 academics and experts from Taiwan and Japan.
Describing mainland China as a key point
for future changes in the situation in East Asia, Chen
said economic and political developments in the mainland
will affect the security and prosperity in the
Asia-Pacific area.
The strong "magnetic effect"
demonstrated by the vast market of mainland China will
especially exert a great impact on the distribution of
regional economic and trade resources, thus becoming an
important issue which deserves being studied by all
countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Chen added.
Chen also thanked the NCU International
Relations Center for its continued cooperation with
Japanese academics and experts to seek feasible ways to
solve various problems concerning the security and
prosperity of East Asia by organizing workshops on
China-related issues.
Former Taiwanese president
Lee Teng-hui also sent a congratulatory message to the
opening ceremony for the two-day symposium, calling for
an early normalization of the relations between Taiwan
and Japan.
Speaking on the same occasion, Lo
Fu-chuan, representative of the Taipei Economic and
Cultural Representative Office in Japan, said that US
President George W Bush since coming to power has
been seeking to strengthen relations between the United
States and Japan in a bid to maintain the security and
peace in Asia.
During the two-day symposium,
delegates from Taiwan and Japan will discuss various
issues regarding East Asian nations' leadership,
political and economic systems, as well as regional
security.
