Office of the President Republic of China(Taiwan)

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu will pitch for the establishment of an international organization of democracies around the Pacific as a way to ensure the region's sustained development at an international conference here Friday.

In a prepared speech to be delivered at the three-day 2003 Democratic Pacific Assembly, which is slated to open that day, Lu advocates the transformation of the assembly into a non-governmental organization called the Democratic Pacific Union, which will in turn develop into an international governmental organization called the Union of Pacific Democracies.

In Lu's vision, the Union of Pacific Democracies, made up of all the democracies in the Pacific region, should be aimed at ensuring the sustained development of the Pacific region, particularly its democracies.

Noting that four of the world's five communist regimes are in Asia, Lu said this might explain why the worldwide trend toward regional integration of democracies cannot happen in Asia.