Last month’s presidential election has given Taiwan a new lease on life and brought significant change. Many international leaders are now looking at Taiwan with a fresh set of eyes. The election showed the international community Taiwan’s political revival, driven forward by Taiwanese society. It also firmly established the nation as a beacon for democracy and human rights within Asia.
The Asia-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum held its inaugural conference from Thursday to Saturday last week at Taoyuan’s Sunrise Country Club. It represented a new social atmosphere taking hold in Taiwan.
The conference was jointly sponsored by China Aid, Freedom House, the Heritage Foundation, the Lantos Foundation and the Taiwan Association For China Human Rights. The purpose of the forum was to promote mutual respect and cooperation between the followers of different religious faiths and to work toward achieving peace and freedom throughout the world.
“Religious freedom is the first freedom” was the main theme emphasized at the conference. Society is currently at a crossroads. The problem of spiritual disharmony is evident all around us. Many of the wars currently raging around the world are due to a lack of tolerance between the followers of different religious faiths.
The source of much of the religious persecution, suppression and cruelty that still exists is the inability of leaders to treat different religious faiths within the borders of their nations with due leniency. Persecution is still a reality for people of religious faith internationally.
That Taiwan was chosen as the location to hold a high-level international conference on universal human values is a positive affirmation of the nation’s democratic freedoms, human rights record and its legal system by the international community. During the past two years of preparation for the conference, consideration was certainly given to the fundamental change anticipated at the presidential election, which, it was thought, would usher in a new Taiwan-centric government.
The thoughts and ideas of president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were also at the forefront of the minds of conference organizers. With the transfer of political power not yet underway, but with the result of the election already clear, the Asia-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum has significantly lead the way in re-establishing Taiwan’s position as a “shining star of freedom.”
One hundred guests from 26 nations attended the conference, including political leaders, religious leaders and civic groups. In addition there were representatives from every Asian Country and parliamentarians from the EU, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Italy, Indonesia, Lithuania, Pakistan and other nations. International religious leaders — including a Vatican representative — were also in attendance. Furthermore, the head of the US Department of State’s Office of International Religious Freedom and directors from renowned non-governmental organization the Lantos Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and Freedom House attended the conference.
Representatives from each nation reported on religious freedom in every region — in particular in regions where persecution is the most serious, such as China, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. In addition, there were discussions on future relief efforts aimed at providing assistance for refugees fleeing religious persecution, due to the particularly serious nature of religious persecution in China and the intensification of persecution against the nation’s Christians. In Zhejiang Province over 2,000 churches and crucifixes have been forcibly torn down by the Chinese government in the past two years. Attendees all expressed sympathy for the plight of the refugees and asked whether Taiwan was able to provide any form of relief assistance.
One of the most important tasks of the new legislature is to pass the draft refugee bill. All of the international figures at the conference were asking the same question: How likely is it that the Taiwanese government will be able to pass this bill within the year so that the suffering of refugees can be relieved? Especially since the “Fishball revolution” incident in Hong Kong at the beginning of the month that highlighted the human rights crisis in the territory.
The US delegation was also keen to understand whether the bill would be aligned with international law and almost all international delegates agreed that if the government passes the bill, they will assist in asking the UN Refugee Agency to open a special office in Taiwan. This has the potential to yield positive results for Taiwan in the future.
When talking of human rights and liberty, it is important to remember that action is more important than words and that actual assistance needs to be provided.
The Asia-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum is an operational think tank and not an annual talk festival incapable of making decisions. Nor is it an non-governmental organization that makes decisions, but never rolls up its sleeves and gets the job done. The purpose of the forum is to share experience and it is above all a practical organization. It is a demonstration of Taiwanese positive energy firing on all cylinders. It is also the first ray of light on the international stage for a revitalized Taiwan.
Yang Hsien-hung is president of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights.
Translated by Edward Jones
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