Mad Minerva

At Meeting of 26 Pacific Rim Democracies, Taiwan's President Urges Democratization of China

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posted Monday, 15 August 2005

A bit of Asian democracy news, gentle reader.

President Chen has just said that China's economic rise should be accompanied by democratic reforms.  Here is the story:

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday called upon the political leaders of 26 Pacific Rim nations to help bring democracy to China -- something he sees as a key mission of the newly-founded Democratic Pacific Union (DPU).

Chen made the remarks while addressing the inaugural meeting of the DPU, a non-governmental organization with representatives of 26 nations around the Pacific Rim that is dedicated to promoting the value of democracy worldwide. Taiwan took the lead in forming the union.

The DPU, which is based on the principles of "democracy, peace and prosperity," was formally established yesterday in Taipei. Seventy-one guests attended a two-day forum to exchange opinions regarding the principles.

The guests included the presidents of Costa Rica and Guatemala, as well as other high ranking government officials, professionals, academics and representatives of major NGOs.

While saying that the establishment of the DPU provides a new impetus for the realization of a democratic, peaceful, and prosperous Pacific century, Chen said that it is regrettable that China remains a missing part of the DPU.

VP Annette Lu was also there.  Now usually you can count on Lu to shoot her mouth off and say wacky (and sometimes wildly inappropriate) things, but this time she said this: "We believe that without democracy, there is no peace; without democracy and peace, there is no genuine prosperity."

UPDATE: A bit more information and background from eTaiwanNews and also from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  It does have this part of a speech by the inimitable Lu:

"Democracy in Taiwan is a result of an endless and high price paid for by the people," she said. "Unlike some other countries in which the people enjoy democracy without paying any price, or little price, the people in Taiwan suffered from 38 years of martial law regime, serious abuse of human rights.  With tears and sweat we worked so hard to install democracy," Lu said. "This then no one else can steal from us or destroy."

Democracy matters.

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