President Chen Shui-bian attended the celebration of the third anniversary of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy on June 14 in Taipei, and praised the foundation for its achievements in promoting democracy in Taiwan and in Asia.
Initiated by the president himself and established three years ago, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy is the first state-level foundation in Taiwan and Asia that promotes universalization of democracy. Over the past three years, the foundation, chaired by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, has continuously shown its concern over and backup for China's democratization, launched the "World Forum for Democratization in Asia" with other organizations advocating democracy in this region, and actively organized an upcoming global forum on emerging democracy.
Furthermore, the president pointed out that the establishment of the "Initiative and Referendum Institute Asia" was a huge step toward Taiwan's referendum. "Starting from the 'legislation of referendum,' we have held a 'national referendum' and 'included the referendum into the Constitution'," the president said with a tint of pride.
At last, the president extended his gratitude to Chairman Wang and members of the foundation, wishing them good health and great success.