Chaos threatened to undo the work of the Democratic Pacific Assembly on the final day of its summit, but many agreed the conference's outcome was better than they had expected.
More than 100 delegates from 24 Pacific Rim countries joined the three-day assembly initiated by Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) to discuss human security, democratic development, the oceans and the economy.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
One major aim of the assembly was to establish the Democratic Pacific Union.
In discussions on the union's purpose, some delegates felt that the issues raised in the conference were too wide-ranging and suggested the assembly be more specific about its goals and functions.
Manuel Menendez, executive director of the City Office of Economic Development of Honolulu, said international organizations are many but not all of them are successes.
The determining factor in the success or failure of an international organization is whether the organization can truly recognize the people's needs and map out plans to address these needs, Menendez said.
He suggested the assembly fit its purpose to issues people are really concerned about so that it can be clear about what it is going to do.
In the general discussion session yesterday, Lu decided to divide the assembly into three subcommittees consisting of countries from the East, West and South Pacific.
Joanne Chang (裘兆琳), an Academia Sinica research fellow and moderator of the session, told the participants to form the subcommittees and elect chairmen, surprising some of the delegates.
Gerard Mangone, professor of international and maritime law at the University of Delaware, told Chang the assembly should decide the leaders of the subcommittees in advance because most participants were not familiar with each other.
Another problem occurred when the participants grouped into the three subcommittees. Chang found many delegates supposed to be appearing in the West Pacific subcommittee were absent.
The West Pacific subcommittee was supposed to consist of delegates from Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan.
But Chang found that apart from one South Korean, all participants in the subcommittee were Taiwanese.
Chang later explained that some delegates left the assembly in the morning because they had to return to their jobs the next day.
She also said the assembly wanted the participants to elect their subcommittee chairmen because the process represented a democratic mechanism.
Although many participants "were not prepared for the subcommittee chairman election," Chang said, they had become more familiar with other participants during the electoral process.
Mangone said that when a new organization is established, "there is bound to be a little confusion."
"But now I think we are on the right track," Mangone said after the subcommittee chairman election.
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