Coincidentally, Time magazine just named the new ROC president, Ma Ying-jeou, and PRC president Hu Jintao among the 2008 Time 100, the 100 people the magazine views as the world's most influential. Ma received this distinction for being a politician who has "an opportunity to shape the destiny not only of their own nation but also of an entire region."
無獨有偶地，中華民國新總統馬英九與中共國家主席胡錦濤，同時入選美國「時代雜誌」2008 年度全球百大影響力人物，而馬英九入選的原因，正是他「能夠重新改寫一整個區域的命運」。