The Democratic Pacific Assembly reached a resolution yesterday to work toward forming a Democratic Pacific Union.
According to the assembly's joint declaration issued yesterday, the future union would promote a new Pacific civilization to facilitate the regional development of democracy and human rights as well as enhance peace and security. The union would also work toward long-term economic cooperation.
Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu, who two years ago urged Taiwan to be more like Hello Kitty in the international community, also promoted the nation's experiences in developing democracy, peace and prosperity, saying that those achievements could be adopted as the core values of the democratic union.
The assembly resolution also stated the wish to form a preparatory committee for creating the union and holding a second annual assembly in Taiwan before the end of next year.
The assembly also passed a motion to form three regional subcommittees to coordinate the agenda for next year's event and to invite more countries to join the assembly.
"To create concrete issues that the assembly and future union may work on for the Asia-Pacific region, all assembly members will join six working groups formed with the topics of democracy, ocean, human rights, human security, women's rights and economics," said deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who also served as the moderator of the final roundtable meeting.
On the significant of the assembly closing on Sept. 21, Lu said it meant that Taiwan would bravely step out of the shadow of China's threats and the memory of the 1999 earthquake.
"Sept. 21 is a date not only to commemorate the tragedy of the 1999 earthquake in central Taiwan but also to observe the International Day of Peace declared by the United Nations in 2001," Lu said in the closing ceremony of the assembly.
"While President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) leads government officials in reviewing post-earthquake reconstruction, I, on behalf of Taiwan, choose to march toward the international community with so many foreign guests," she said.
"We want to remind the international community that Taiwan is not alone," Lu said. "Even though China's military threats are unchanged, Taiwan now finds a path to combine all democratic powers in the Asia-Pacific region to resist it."
Lu said she is confident that Taiwan will no longer be marginalized in the international arena thanks to the formation of the Democratic Pacific Union.
The three-day assembly was launched on Friday and was co-chaired by Lu and Benjamin Gilman, a former chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on International Relations.
The assembly also passed a resolution to deliver a formal letter to the World Health Organization and the UN to support Taiwan's bid to join the health body.
Also See Story:
Pacific assembly meeting a muted success, officials say
RSS