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Braving a storm to cross the new Strait

STAFF REPORTERS
Friday, Aug 06, 2004, Page 3

Vice President Annette Lu says that Central America offers Taiwan a chance to defy its diplomatic isolation. PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES

Taipei Times: How is the proposed Democratic Pacific Union (DPU) different to other international organizations?

Annette Lu (呂秀蓮): The UN was established in 1945 and is an organization with a structure based on government-to-government relations. It therefore has greater financial resources, so the contributions required from its members are larger. It is known that the UN has been in financial debt for some time now. On political issues and the like, it has definite and specific capabilities and functions, although there also exist issues of parity between small and big countries. It has the Security Council which holds a veto power, and this violates principles of fairness and equality.

So personally I think a contradiction exists in terms of its mechanisms. Having said that, all in all we do recognize the functions of the UN.

As for the DPU, there are requirements to become a member. First of all, a member must be a country on the Pacific Rim. So far we have not rushed to include Europe and Africa, instead focusing primarily on countries situated around or across the Pacific. This is a rather new way of looking at things, for in the past the development of civilizations has mostly focused on terrestrial development. So, here we are, using the ocean as our base of operations and that is why the DPU is different.

We don't have diplomatic relations with many countries, so before we can win more diplomatic allies, we have to hold these events in the mode of a non-governmental organization.

That said, our intention at this time is to use the name of our country as part of the DPU. And the DPU member nations would have three representatives: one each from the governmental, academic and industrial sectors.

Given the organization's vast scope, another important element is to separate it into three districts. The East Pacific is the American region, the West Pacific refers to the Asian region and the South Pacific includes New Zealand and Australia. I believe that the DPU can be established within two years.

But give me 10 years. After that I believe it will be interesting to see how the DPU will have turned out.

projecting strength

TT: What do you wish to achieve with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in your diplomatic work?

Lu: The DPU is a mechanism which we hope to operate not only as a diplomatic tool but also to project Taiwan's national strength, authority and prestige.

Our key diplomatic area is in Central America. Through the DPU we wish to extend Taiwan's mode of development abroad.

We will in the near future join hands with Central American nations on numerous joint ventures. Among the projects that have been proposed are international marketing in the fields of agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and animal husbandry. We think it is feasible to join hands with our allies in these fields -- all the way from production to marketing. As long as they provide land and labor, we can provide technical assistance and personnel and train their people.

We should establish a government-to-government mechanism of cooperation to safeguard and encourage our people who are interested in going abroad to take part in this endeavor. There are two means -- investing capital or forming contracts -- by which they can contribute their expertise in their specific fields.

For those who are interested in this project, they might even want to take their whole family and emigrate. This will be a win-win policy in which we invest together and take a share of the profits. In other words, we will gradually introduce our economic strength to our allies.

Many of our other traditional industries, such as steel, petroleum and electricity, have been moving to China. There are actually several Central American nations who want these industries to move there as well and provide assistance in these fields.

In fact, last night I had an opportunity to share these ideas with several leaders of industry at a luncheon. They welcomed the proposals and were excited about them.

Over these last years, many businesses have moved to China. The industry leaders expressed concern over this, and I noted that many were feeling apprehensive if the situation were allowed to continue.

So, I have tentative plans to lead a delegation of observers [to Central America] at the beginning of next year.

Through the DPU, we will also be able to share our ideas with countries that don't have diplomatic ties with us.

Student

The Executive Yuan has noticed that there are very few international students coming to Taiwan to study. It is with these concerns in mind that the government has plans to allot an annual budget to encourage more foreign students to come to Taiwan. Through the DPU mechanism, we will be able to take the opportunity to encourage member nations to come to Taiwan and learn more about us, as well as for us to learn from these DPU members -- many of them are more developed than Taiwan.

Another idea under discussion is the formation of a "Pacific University of the Sea" (太平洋海上大學). Cruising on a ship, students can both study and and take in new experiences and ideas as the ship stops at various DPU member nations. Given the expense, which would be considerable, this would be a program tailored more to individuals with social standing and economic independence. With this program we would learn to treat all Pacific nations as one family.

In the past, we sent missions and aid to other countries focusing on technical areas. Now we wish to assemble missions that focus on a more cultural perspective. Using methods such as pen-pal correspondence, humanitarian assistance and the like, we wish to promote cultural exchange, understanding and interest in Taiwan.

Viewing Central America as our key diplomatic region, I wish to cultivate and implement a "new cross-strait" relationship. We have had nearly five decades or so to cultivate cross-strait relations [in the Taiwan Strait]. But what do we get in return? Military threats, diplomatic isolation and being fleeced economically.
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