Taipei, Sept. 16 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu said Tuesday that Taiwan has created "a miracle of economy, democracy and peace" despite being under constant military threat over the past five decades.
Lu made the remarks while addressing a symposium on peace organized by , which was presided over by committee member Chien Hsi-chieh and attended by local academics and experts.
Lee Ming-chun, a member of the committee, presented a thesis on the development and future of the right to peace during the seminar, while Hsiao Shu-fen, an associate professor of Tunghai University, presented a thesis on the basic principles and structure of the right to survival.
There are no other countries in the world like Taiwan, a country that has survived while under long-standing military intimidation from Beijing, Lu said, adding that the country has created a "miracle of peace" after making impressive progress in economic development and political democratization.
Saying that the maintenance of this peace needs the concerted efforts of everyone, the vice president called on the academics and experts present at the symposium to carry out research into peace-related provisions in the U.N. Charter in order to help secure peace across the Taiwan Strait.
Recalling the recent U.S.-led wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, Lu claimed that war is not the solution to problems but only creates more problems for humankind. Peace is the only option for mankind, she stressed.
The vice president went on to say that Taiwan is a peace-, freedom- and democracy-loving country and added that she has been sparing no efforts to promote her "soft power" -- which she described as human rights, democracy, peace, love and high technology development.
Noting that Sept. 21 is the World Peace Day, Lu said she is scheduled to deliver a speech that day on peace and democratic development at the first Democratic Pacific Assembly.
Around 65 foreign guests, including the vice presidents of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, former president of Ecuador Janmil Mahuad Witt, and Robert A. Mundell, Nobel Prize winner in economics in 1999, have confirmed that they will attend the three-day meeting aimed at safeguarding peace and democracy around the world, Lu said.