Hsinchu, March 3 (CNA) Former Philippines President Fidel Ramos said Thursday upon arrival in Taiwan that his visit was not about resolving the diplomatic row between Taipei and Manila and was in no way political.
Ramos, who is leading a 35-member delegation, is scheduled to attend a golf tournament, visit the Hsinchu Science Park, and meet with the Hsinchu and Changhua county magistrates.
Responding to reporters' questions in Hsinchu, the 82-year-old Ramos said the recent consensus reached between Taiwan and the Philippines was "more than enough" to resolve the row over the latter's deportation of 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China on Feb. 2.
"We have no political mission," Ramos said.
Ramos did not say whether he was scheduled to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou, Vice President Vincent Siew or Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang, but the CNA has learned that a meeting with Siew is on the agenda.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei maintained Thursday that Ramos' visit was a private one focused on sports and business.
In Hsinchu, Ramos highlighted the idea of "Asian prosperity, " saying that Asian neighbors should work together to achieve prosperity.
He said he was impressed with the contribution of the 90,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan.
"Taiwan needs their services" because they are skilled, English-speaking Christians and "a good bunch of workers to work with," he said.
His comments were made against the backdrop of Taiwan's tighter screening of Filipino applicants seeking to work in Taiwan and calls in the legislature and elsewhere for Taiwan to freeze the importation of Philippine labor in response to the deportation row.
Taiwan has since softened its stance on the issue and is no longer pressing for a formal apology from Manila, while the Philippines has promised to hold accountable any officials found to have mishandled the matter.
Ramos said Wednesday in a press release issued in the Philippines by his private foundation that Manila's refusal to apologize had "endangered the economic synergy that exists between the two countries."
"The 'One-China' policy should not have been invoked by the Aquino Administration as the basis for that controversial deportation," he also said in the press release. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc