Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) brainchild, the three day international conference known as the Democratic Pacific Assembly, yesterday took a step towards establishing itself as a permanent international organization, as assembly participants adopted a charter to govern the yet-to-be-formed Democratic Pacific Union (DPU).
However, confusion reigned as roughly 100 assembly participants debated how best to implement plans to realistically establish the ambitious goals outlined by the participants during the three-day conference.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
In the end, the charter was adopted by the assembly "in principle," with plans to approve the charter as a legal document during next year's assembly.
The charter was not adopted in full yesterday in order to accommodate proposals that Lu made to pass the DPU charter just before the conference's conclusion.
Gerard Mangone, a professor of international and maritime law at the University of Delaware and the head of the assembly's charter drafting committee, explained that the committee "had not had the benefit of Lu's comments" while the charter was being drafted, before the conference took place.
"We adopted the charter in principle, subject to the principles that have been suggested by Vice President Lu," said Mangone told the Taipei Times yesterday.
"There are some fundamental changes in here [Lu's proposals], but the basic structure [of the charter] is not far from what Lu proposed," Mangone said in response to the proposals that Lu set out.
In particular, Lu suggested that "country chapters" should be central to the DPU's organizational structure. According to Lu's proposal yesterday, the country chapters would appoint 3 to 5 representatives to the Union. The countries would be further divided into three regions -- east, west and south Pacific. Representatives would then be elected from each region to be on the DPU's executive board.
In addition, Lu proposed the establishment of a Department of International Development and Cooperation, which would allow any interested individuals from academic, business or non-governmental circles to participate in one of six committees focusing on issues ranging from democracy to high technology.
When questioned yesterday as to what a "country chapter" was, Mangone explained that the country chapter is "composed of five people from a country and will represent government officials or NGOs or professional associations or businesses."
Asked how the five representatives were to be appointed and by whom, Mangone simply smiled and said "I don't know."
While Lu made it a point to stress the non-governmental nature of the Union, the ambiguity of the "country chapters" straddles the line between governmental and non-governmental organizations, especially given the establishment of an International Development and Cooperation department to allow for the participation of those who are not appointed as country chapter representatives.
The difficulties involved in establishing an international organization is of course linked with Taiwan's international status.
"Our situation is so unusual that very few countries maintain diplomatic ties [with us]," Lu said.
"To host a meeting [DPA] is much easier than to organize an institution [DPU]," she said.
However, the Declaration of the Pacific, also adopted yesterday, states that the DPU will be established as a "non-governmental organization comprised of citizen representatives of the Pacific democracies to create a new alliance in the Pacific region to advance democracy, peace and prosperity."
Nevertheless, yesterday's partial adoption of the DPU charter was viewed as "historic" by several participants.
"This is a historic occasion, as we have adopted the DPU. God Bless!" Benjamin Gilman, former chairman of the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee, said at the conclusion of the meeting yesterday.
"You have to start with the first step, and this is a historic first step with over 100 participants sharing experiences and a common dream," Panama's Vice President Arturo Vallarino said.
In addition, Harvey Schipper, a professor at the University of Toronto in Canada, pointed to the importance of the exchange of ideas made possible by conferences such as the DPA.
"There is dialogue, and dialogue becomes a conversation. Conversation becomes literature, and literature a culture," Schipper said during a forum on technological development of the Pacific community.
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