Taipei Times
Date:  Jan 02, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged the next president to refrain from being “ungrateful” for his efforts and to “cherish” the “bridge of peace” that he has built across the Taiwan Strait in the past seven years.

“I hope the cross-strait policies of the next administration will continue in the right direction, following the pragmatic and effective policies that we have implemented in the past seven years,” Ma said in his New Year address, as the Jan. 16 presidential election is expected to result in a change in government.

Ma said he built a “bridge of peace” in his Nov. 7 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore, adding that it is not only a bridge across the Taiwan Strait, but one that also crosses the “barricades of history,” urging the next president to cherish the accomplishment and “not be ungrateful for my efforts.”

“Since the beginning of my first term, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have created a cooperative model through reconciliation and exchanges, ushering in the most stable and peaceful period in cross-strait relations since the two sides came under separate rule 66 years ago,” Ma said.

He said that all three presidential candidates proposed to maintain the “status quo” and said that this has “never happened before.”     [FULL  STORY]