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.