President Chen Shui-bian attended the opening ceremony for the 5th plenary meeting of the Asian Network for Major Cities 21 (ANMC 21) in Taipei on April 13, extending to the leading leaders his warmest welcome.
The Asian Network of Major Cities 21, initiated by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and formed in Kuala Lumpur in 2000, is a body representing the interests of several of East Asia's largest capital cities around several important themes, including urban planning, sustainability and crisis management. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara also attended this year's event.
Beijing withdrew its membership in August 2005 in protest of the ANMC 21's decision to have Taipei hold its fifth plenary meeting in 2006.
President Chen's address is as follows.
Good morning!
It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to participate in the opening ceremony for the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC21). First of all, on behalf of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and its 23 million people, I would like to extend my warmest welcome to the leading officials and representatives of nine major Asian cities for coming to this important meeting to join us in promoting intercity cooperation and resolving the common problems we face.
ANMC21 was originally proposed by incumbent Tokyo City Mayor Mr. Shintaro Ishihara in August 2000 in Kuala Lumpur during a joint conference involving the four cities of Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Delhi, and Seoul.
The main purpose of ANMC21 is to unite Asia's major cities by putting aside differences of religion and ideology and establishing a cooperative network. This network addresses issues of urban planning, the economy, and culture, in the hope of breaking through boundaries between nations, promoting friendship among member cities, and providing a platform for the exchange of information in order to resolve problems common to these cities.
Twelve member cities, including Taipei, participated in ANMC21's first meeting. In the 2004 plenary meeting held in Jakarta, Taipei and Beijing competed to be the next host city. China continuously used its political power to hinder the progress of the meeting by boycotting meeting sessions. Even worse, it disregarded the meeting's resolution, and was unwilling to allow the section giving Taipei priority to be the 2006 host city to appear in the joint declaration. Eventually, Beijing unilaterally withdrew from the ANMC21, resulting in the 2005 plenary meeting not being held.
Fortunately, Tokyo Mayor Ishihara, the conference initiator, dealt resolutely with the matter and came personally to Taipei to take care of this issue. He brought the fifth plenary meeting forward to April this year, making it possible for this significant conference to take place. It also enabled the dignitaries of nine Asian nations to gather in Taipei today, to take a good look at the city, experience Taiwan's culture, and feel for themselves the dynamism of Taiwan's society.
In 1994, during my term as Taipei Mayor, I felt deeply that even though Taiwan is an island country, we should never close ourselves from the world, for we are not an isolated island, but rather, an island that embraces the world. Taiwan shoulders its responsibility as a member of the global community of democracies, and is determined not to become mired in a disadvantageous situation. Instead, we took the proactive approach of promoting "city diplomacy" to help Taipei reach out to the world while inviting the world come to Taiwan.
During my four-year tenure, I cemented 14 international sister-city and one partner-city relationships. In May 1998, we organized the first International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) and World Capitals Forum (WCF) in Taipei, to which we invited 67 city mayors and representatives from 58 nations, including then Mayor of Washington D.C. Mr. Marion Barry Jr. Even though China ordered its embassies to make every effort to prevent nations from sending representatives to Taiwan, we broke through the barricade and organized the meeting to the best of results, thus helping the international community to gain a deeper understanding of Taipei and Taiwan.
In April 1997, I had the opportunity to participate in the 33rd World Congress of IULA in Mauritius. There, I witnessed how a large international convention brought an air of engaging vibrancy to a city. In response, I noted in my diary: "A city charged with energy brings an influence far beyond our imagination. If we behold mutual learning experiences between countries from merely conventional perspectives, we will never be able to transcend ourselves." For me, as Taipei mayor at that time, "city diplomacy" was a part of my administrative ideals as well as an important element in sharing Taipei's experiences with the international community.
Today, I would like to express my special appreciation for the considerable effort that Mayor Ma and his team at the city government devoted to winning the right to host the Fifth Plenary Meeting of ANMC21. This is a major event for Asian cities and represents a diplomatic achievement for Taipei. I would like to once again extend my commendation to Mayor Ma and the Taipei City Government for their hard work and commitment that made this event possible.
Finally, on behalf of Taiwan's government and our 23 million people, I would like to once again extend my heartfelt welcome to each of you. Let me wish every success to this plenary meeting and health, peace, and happiness to all the distinguished guests and friends. Thank you very much.