President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan stated that he totally understood and was supportive for the request of the pro-democracy protest of Hong Kong on Monday in the annual meeting of World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce.
In the meeting, Ma addressed a speech to the Taiwanese overseas businessmen and pointed out there had been new competitive advantages in Taiwan. He promised to provide the best conditions to the businessmen and hoped them to invest back to Taiwan.
Ma changed the topic immediately to the recent Hong Kong protest. He said that he cared about Hong Kong's situation very much these days as the world did and he would like to share the government's opinion.
"In terms of requesting Pro-democracy in Hong Kong, we fully understand and support" said Ma. Taiwan has been implementing democratic election for a long time, and there were many Hong Kong people to view the election every time.
Ma stated that Hong Kong is an important global financial center; any political turmoil will influence Asia and even the whole world. He said, "so we call on the Mainland China authorities to listen to the Hong Kong people's voice and deal with the issue with peaceful and careful attitude." Meanwhile, Ma called on Hong Kong residents to express their appeals peacefully and rationally; we would not like to see any conflict.
Ma said at the end that outsiders hoped Hong Kong would stride forward to the direction of democracy. "We believe, " he said, "it will be win-win for both Mainland China and Hong Kong if Hong Kong achieves the general election."
Jiang Yi-huah, currently the Premier of the Republic of China, stated that the stability of Hong Kong as the important financial center of Asia if the event last long. Democracy is an inevitable trend, he added, Taiwan supported Hong Kong people to strive for general election.