Tien sees new security concepts beyond military

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) said yesterday at a plenary session of the 20th American Enterprise Institute World Forum in Denver, Colorado, that security concepts should be defined beyond the scope of military factors.

He said that the concepts should instead emphasize trade and economic cooperation, as well as political integration, and that the development of democratic politics is the best guarantee to world peace because "it is difficult for war to break out between democratic countries."

On the topic of relations between Taipei and Beijing relations, Tien said that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has already extended several olive branches, and that a high degree of economic and trade cooperation already exists between the two sides.

Tien made the remarks while serving as a co-moderator on the topic of "World and Regional Security" together with US Vice President Dick Cheney and former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing on the last day of the forum.

Although the three-day annual meeting is traditionally an informal and unofficial affair where government officials, think tank experts and business leaders meet to explore various global economic, social and security issues, inviting Tien to serve as a co-moderator with a senior US official at a panel attended by all 250 guests from around the world was a new development in the interaction between Taiwanese and US ranking officials.