投書了投書了，最後一句真的超爆笑~~

Taiwan’s economy

SIR – Your article (“Ma the bumbler”, November 17th) on President Ma Ying-jeou of the Republic of China (Taiwan) focused only on the economy and overlooked his accomplishments in cross-strait relations and foreign policy, which are his primary responsibilities under our constitution. President Ma has reached 18 agreements with mainland China over four years, greatly easing tension and promoting peace in the Taiwan Strait. Meanwhile, the number of countries and territories awarding Taiwan visa-waiver status has jumped from 54 to 129 under his watch, unprecedented in Taiwan’s history.

Although I do not deny some of the facts reported in your piece, I would like to point out that under President Ma Taiwan’s average economic growth rate between 2008 and 2011 was 3.4%, which was higher than that of South Korea and Hong Kong. According to your Economist Intelligence Unit, Taiwan’s GDP per person (PPP adjusted) in 2011 was $41,385, well over that of Britain ($35,725), Germany, France, Japan and South Korea. The foreign trade of Taiwan, which has but one-seventh of the United Kingdom’s land area and 37% of its population, was $590 billion in 2011, more than half of Britain’s $1.1 trillion. Our ranking in the World Competitiveness Yearbook has jumped from 23rd in 2009 to 7th in 2012.

President Ma will do his utmost to weather another global recession, and he is determined to push forward with reforms. It is not surprising that some of his initiatives have been unpopular during the downturn. The people of Taiwan have every right to use harsh words against their president, but when a foreign media organisation repeats the name calling it should at least use quotation marks.

Lyushun Shen
Representative
Taipei representative office in the UK
London