Several civic groups have recently launched a campaign to seek public endorsement of a planned “NGO consensus memorandum” on a proposed cross-strait peace agreement, drawing considerable online interest.
Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳), the executive director of the Taipei-based Citizen Congress Watch and one of the initiators of the campaign, said there have been many online responses to the idea since the Taiwan Grassroots Alliance for Peace (TGAP) organized the first preparatory meeting for the planned memorandum in Taipei last Monday.
“Most people online supported the idea, with some even proposing their own versions of the articles” in the alliance’s proposed cross-strait peace agreement, Ho said.
Eight representatives of the participating NGOs, which support a range of causes including women’s rights, environmental protection, human rights, peace and education, joined the meeting to discuss the content of the memorandum.
Ho said the memorandum would be Taiwan’s grassroots voice on the widely discussed peace accord between Taiwan and China, and that its existence is to safeguard the fundamental civil rights of Taiwanese in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres.
The TGAP anticipates that the governing Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will put forth the idea of signing a peace agreement in 2011. It was first proposed during talks between then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) in 2005.
The alliance believes that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who took over as KMT chairman on Oct. 17, is likely to meet Hu before his presidential term ends in 2012.
While it is expected the two sides will reach an agreement to sign a cross-strait memorandum of understanding on cooperation in financial supervision, and an economic cooperation framework agreement by the middle of next year, the alliance contends that Ma and Hu will promote the peace agreement during their anticipated meeting in 2011.
It is questionable, however, whether the cross-strait peace agreement proposed by the two political parties would be in the best interests of the two sides, or whether the KMT and CCP would take into account opinions of civic organizations and different ethnic groups when structuring a deal.
Based on those concerns, Taiwanese NGOs have decided to outline their version of a blueprint for the peaceful development of cross-strait ties, the TGAP said.
The alliance says the NGOs plan to complete and publicize its memorandum before Ma celebrates his second anniversary in office on May 20 next year.
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