Delegates attending the World Forum on Democracy in Warsaw, Poland, including representatives from Taiwan, called for increased pressure to be put on undemocratic governments yesterday.
The forum, which opened Sunday, has brought together foreign ministers and senior officials from more than 100 countries to attend this first-ever international conference on the promotion of democracy.
The gathering is a joint initiative of Freedom House, a US-based non-profit organization and Poland's Stefan Batory Founda-tion, a think tank promoting international cooperation.
The forum coincides with a conference in Warsaw of foreign ministers from some 100 nations which is focusing on democratic institutions.
The conference is sponsored by Poland, the US, the Czech Republic, Chile, India, Mali and South Korea and opened yesterday.
Taiwan was not allowed to participate in the ministerial conference but it is attending the democracy forum, which concludes today.
Participants from Taiwan include former DPP chairmen Hsu Hsin-liang (
Representing Taiwan's government in a private capacity is Hsiao Bi-khim (
Renowned author Bo Yang (柏楊) was also invited to the forum but was unable to attend due to health reasons. Instead he sent a video message.
The foreign affairs ministry's Yang said that Taiwan has demonstrated its close relationship with non-governmental organizations during the forum.
Hsu, meanwhile, said the most important value in the age of globalization will be the concurrent globalization of democracy and human rights.
The forum will put tremendous pressure on states and societies which are undemocratic and ignore human rights, Hsu said.
Zhang Erping (張而平), spokesperson of China's Falun Gong (法輪功) sect, called on the international community to increase pressure on the Beijing government.
Beijing's persecution of a qigong exercise group shows China is undemocratic and attaches no importance to human rights, Zhang said.
Xiao Qiang (蕭強), executive director of the Chinese Association for Human Rights, stressed the importance of the timing of information entering China and said that discretion is important if it is to help China's internal growth.
Xiao also added that, apart from pressure from foreign governments and NGOs, China's domestic dissent can also have an effect by pushing for reform on issues such as environmental protection and judicial problems.
Consensus was reached that more pressure should be exerted on undemocratic governments.
"We would like to see action, rather than words," said Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar's embattled opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) in a video-taped message to the forum.
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