President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday urged Taiwan to join like-minded democracies in the region to form what he called an "Asian Democratic Alliance" to help transform authoritarian countries such as China into democracies.
"For Taiwan, as a prime example of the global third wave of democratization, we are willing to cooperate with like-minded countries to contribute to the consolidation of Asian democracy and to promote democracy throughout the continent, notably in China," Chen said.
Chen made the statement at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Conference of the Asia Pacific Democratic Cooperation Forum, sponsored by the government-funded World League for Freedom and Democracy, the Asian Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy, Tamkang University and Shih Hsin University.
"We will actively strengthen our cooperation with other democracies in the Asia-Pacific region to develop an `Asian Democratic Alliance' as part of a wider Asia-Pacific community of democracies," Chen said.
Reviewing the status quo of the region, Chen said while the majority of countries have opted for a democratic system of government, around 14 have not.
"Furthermore, of the less than five existing communist regimes in the world, most are in the Asia-Pacific region," Chen said. "This is an alarming fact, which reminds Asian countries that they should work even harder to support democratization."
In the post-Sept. 11 world, the president argued that while the region has become a focus of the US-led war against terrorism on an international scale, the success of these anti-terrorist operations would require joint cooperation of various countries in the region.
"It also requires us to concentrate on cooperation in three areas: regional stability and security, consolidation and expansion of democracy as well as economic development," Chen said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
"We strongly believe that enhanced cooperation among democratic countries will help the authoritarian countries in the region to move toward a healthier path of development, thus reducing the possibility of conflict," Chien said.
But not everyone has a clear idea of what Chen's "Asian Democratic Alliance" would look like.
Ronald Meinardus, resident representative of the Germany-based Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, said during a subsequent panel discussion that he had no idea what Chen meant, not to mention the purpose nor the means of such an alliance.
"A few years ago, I attended a similar seminar here, but there were absolutely no follow-ups whatsoever," Meinardus said.
During the seminar, which has drawn over 30 participants from the region, presenters discussed democracy, security and economic development in the region.
Professor Yoshihide Soeya, from Keio University of Japan, argued in his paper that deepening economic interdependence in the region would accelerate the trend of political pluralism.
"If the process does not lead to democratization of governing regimes any time soon, increasing pluralization of societies and value consciousness should be inevitable," thus leading to the formation of ties and networks of civil societies in the region, he said.
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