This may be of intrest to some. Dear friends, Re: Summary of the visit to Taiwan as guest of President Ma Ying-Jeou at the second term inauguration ceremony, 16-22/5/2012 Between the 16-22/05/2012 I was invited by the Government of Taiwan as a personal guest of the President, Prof. Ma Ying-Jeou to participate in the inauguration ceremony for his second presidential term of office. I am attaching a presentation summarizing my moving and exciting visit in Taiwan : http://www.birds.org.il/sip_storage/files/8/2388.ppt My unique bond with President Ma was built in 1998, when I was invited, together with 80 other representatives of BirdLife International to Taiwan , to participate in a conference whose aim was the strengthening of the activities of the Government of Taiwan in the promotion of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and the preservation of biological diversity. About 15 representatives were chosen to meet with the President of Taiwan and the Mayor of Taipei, Prof. Ma. I brought with me to the meeting a framed poster of storks above Jerusalem that was “new from the printing press”, and Mayor Ma, who was full of enthusiasm from the meeting, invited me for a second visit during which I met with the Chief of the Taiwanese Air Force who wanted to learn about our achievements on the topic of birdstrikes. A year later Prof. Ma came on a reciprocal visit to Israel , and was my guest at Latrun, and the bond between us tightened. About two years ago, when the Representative of Taipei Economic and Culture Office in Tel Aviv, H.E., Liang-Jen Chang, came to Israel , he was asked by President Ma, to increase our collaboration. We hosted a Taiwanese delegation, headed by Lt. General Liao Jung-Hsin, Chairman of the National Security Council of Taiwan, a Mirage pilot and sworn birdwatcher. The arrangements were also handled by Israel Economic Representative in Taiwan , Simona Halperin. As a result of the visit and my excellent personal relationship with Prof. Lucia Liu Severinghaus from the Academia Sinica Institute, we decided to promote the idea of collaboration in the fields of flight safety, environmentally friendly agriculture, a comprehensive study of raptor migration with satellite transmitters, and the integration of schoolchildren via the internet site for learning about migration, promoting two-way birding tourism between Taiwan and Israel. The visit was an enormous success beyond all expectations. Organized until the last detail, the Taiwanese gave me a “seven star” visit, with such a warmhearted and friendly attitude that is not usually found anymore. I was accommodated at a luxury hotel, with an escort from the Foreign Ministry with me at all times, Yu-Ping Su, who held a position in the past in Israel . A detailed and busy program was arranged (see appendix), that included, among other things, the following: · I met with the President of Taiwan for a whole hour (in spite of his busy schedule leading up to the inauguration), joined by the following dignitaries: our representative, the Minister of Agriculture, the Deputy Foreign Minister, and his General Director, and a Senior Official from the Ministry of Defense. During the meeting, the principles for tightening relations and increasing collaboration were discussed. The atmosphere was very warm and sociable. · A personal meeting with the Chief of the Taiwanese Air Force, General Yen-Ming. · A lecture of about one and a half hours for the Senior Staff of the Taiwanese Air Force and senior representatives from flight safety – more than 50 officers – which was received with high interest. · A half-day conference on the topic of migration in Israel and Taiwan with five lecturers and discussions during which I delivered the key note lecture, attended by about 80 academics and birding organization members (see presentation). · A number of meals hosted by the General Director of the Foreign Ministry, General Liao and others. · Participation in the official inauguration ceremony, attended by 50 delegations from around the world, I was awarded the honor of being present in the hall with the heads of the delegations (even ambassadors weren’t in the hall!), and a festive dinner at a fancy hotel together with 450 guests in an impressive production. · On Monday I visited the Endemic Species Research Institute in Nantou County , and there too I met with researchers, and I lectured to 60 researchers and conservationists, at an institute belonging to the Taiwanese Ministry of Agriculture. My meeting with the President of Taiwan, that included the Ministers and the elite of the Air Force, earned exceptional reactions in Taiwan, appearing in more than 100 (!) newspaper articles, TV and the radio (see sample – http://english.rti.org.tw/programalertinfo.aspx?tid=AD3141C80DAF32E2), as well as among the public. (One of the ambassadors asked our representative in Taiwan about the size of the Israeli delegation from Israel , based on the media and public reactions…) In the next few days, I will be preparing a document of principles with Prof. Severinghaus for the promotion of cooperation with Taiwan that I will be personally handing over to the President of Taiwan, the Chief of the ROCAF and all the relevant Ministers, describing the possible collaborative projects with the Tel Aviv University and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, with Academia Sinica Institute and ROC NGO’s. This is a good opportunity to personally extend my thanks to the President of Taiwan, Prof. Ma Ying-Jeou, to H.E Liang-Jen Chang, to our Economic representative in Taiwan, Simona Halperin, to the representative from the Foreign Ministry, Yu-Ping Su, to the Chief of the ROCAF, General Yen-Ming, and to his Vice Chief, Lt. General Wu, Chien-Hsing, who personally hosted me, to the Taiwanese Minister of Agriculture Dr. Bao-Ji Chen, to the Deputy Director of the Taiwanese Foreign Minister, H.E. Lin Jinn-Jong, to the Taiwanese Minister of Security, KAO, and of course to my friend, General Liao Jung-Hsin, who was appointed about a year ago to the position of Chief of the Air Defense Forces in Taiwan and was responsible for personally making great efforts towards the success of the visit. In summary, my feeling is that we are about to enter an extensive and fruitful collaboration in the coming years, and this thanks to an impressive President, a professional with ingenuity and vision. I want to quote from President Ma speech from the Inauguration Ceremony on the May 20 2012 at the President House ceremony: “In Chinese we speak of “building a nest to attract the Phoenix ” – in other words “build it and they will come”. We really hope to “take off” to a new .horizon, both Taiwan and Israel .
Another amazing story, I told in Taiwan : The first pair of Barn Owls in which the male was an Israeli owl, and the female a Jordanian owl raising 7 chicks in Bet- Shean valley for the first time ever – Birds knows no Boundaries! See the amazing story produced by Reuters in Alarabiya – http://english..nealarabiyat/articles/2012/05/18/214955.html All positive about our regional cooperation. Yours sincerely, Prof. Yossi Leshem ********************** Prof. Yossi Leshem Address: Tel Aviv University , George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Zoology Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978 , Israel . Telefax +972-3-6406010, Tel: +972-3-6407963 Mobile phone: +972-52-3257722 E-mail 1: yleshem@post.tau.ac.il E-mail 2: yossile@tauex.tau.ac.il (both are correct) Skype Name: leshemyossi Home: +972-2-9932308 Visit our web site: www.birds.org.il ===============================
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