Good Morning!
In the 1970s, dozens of countries, including the six nations participating in today's conference, began to transform themselves into democracies, ushering in the so-called third wave of democratization. If we compare these new democracies with older and advanced democracies, we find that they share many things in common. Established democracies have evolved into their current form through an incremental process, whereas new democracies have made progress along the road of democracy in leaps and bounds. For new democracies, the dawn of democracy is like the fall of the Berlin Wall, in that both took place almost in an instant amidst the passionate cry of the people.
Although the arrival of democracy in these countries brought down old, authoritarian regimes, however, it has not completely replaced them with a new order. Meanwhile, all kinds of contradictions that had been covered up by past authoritarian governments have rapidly emerged. As a result, for many countries, democratization often brings with it more confrontations, demonstrations, and conflicts, and people's high expectations for democracy turn into disappointment and doubt. What's worse, such developments not only bring about setbacks for democracy, but also give deposed authoritarian regimes the opportunity to regain power. These are difficulties and challenges all new democracies face.
We nevertheless firmly believe that the difficulties and challenges these nations are dealing with can only be resolved through the further consolidating and strengthening of democracy. Returning to past practices or backtracking on democracy is by no means an acceptable solution.
History has shown us that the road of democratic development is not a straight one, and that other nations' methods of democratic development cannot be directly transplanted. The developmental processes used by established, advanced democracies can serve as an important reference for us, the new democracies. Each era, however, has its own issues and challenges. All new democracies are still trying things out and still learning, and there are no absolute, clear answers to the problems they are facing. As such, the experiences of each new democracy, and particularly the personal experiences and observations of the leaders who guide their nations toward democratization, are the most important assets in consolidating and strengthening democracy.
It is my earnest hope that today's conference and the establishment of the Global Forum on New Democracies will spur the development of democracies the world over.
Thank you.