Opening Remarks by H.E. President Chen Shui-bian at the Second Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit
October 12, 2007
Your Excellency President Note and Madame Note of the Republic of the Marshall Islands; Your Excellency President Remengesau and Madame Remengesau of the Republic of Palau; Your Excellency President Scotty and Madame Scotty of the Republic of Nauru; Your Excellency Prime Minister Sogavare and Madame Sogavare of the Solomon Islands; Your Excellency Prime Minister Ielemia and Madame Ielemia of Tuvalu; Your Excellency Vice President Onorio of the Republic of Kiribati; Excellencies Ministers and Ambassadors; Distinguished Delegation Members; Distinguished Guests; Friends from the Media; Good Afternoon! Yakwei, Alii, Ma reit ed, Yu how, Talofa, Miaoli:
I am delighted to have this opportunity to once again meet with the heads of state of our Pacific allies by leading a delegation from Taiwan to attend the Second Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit. I am indebted to His Excellency President Note of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the host country, for the kind invitation and arrangements that have been made. On behalf of the 23 million people and government of Taiwan, I wish to express my most heartfelt appreciation to President Note and the people and government of the Marshall Islands. Meanwhile, I also want to show my gratitude to the heads of state and distinguished guests who have traveled great distances to attend this summit.
On September 4 last year, leaders from Taiwan and its Pacific allies participated in the first Taiwan-Pacific Allies Summit in Koror City, the capital of Palau, to exchange views on regional development, government capacity-building and cooperation between Taiwan and its Pacific allies. Having reached a consensus, the heads of state signed the Palau Declaration, which marked the creation of a new multilateral mechanism for cooperation in the Pacific region.
Over the course of the past year, multilateral cooperation between Taiwan and each of its Pacific allies has already commenced in the eight areas for cooperation as laid out in the Palau Declaration. By cooperating on law enforcement training, digital government, tourism, healthcare, environmental protection, economic partnership, agricultural and fishery cooperation, as well as society and culture, we are gradually enhancing political, economic, social and cultural development in the Pacific region.
However, we have also faced increasingly severe external challenges. For example, gasoline prices have skyrocketed, which has pushed up the cost of energy, transportation and virtually all daily necessities. This in turn has put tremendous pressure on economic activity and the lives of people in developing countries.
Moreover, the development of human civilization has had a harsh impact on the environment, causing severe loss of life and property. This human impact is going to be even harder to control in the future as the environment continues to deteriorate. In the past, certain military powers conducted nuclear testing in the Pacific region. And in recent years, industrial nations have emitted large amounts of greenhouse gas, which has caused global warming, climate change and rising sea levels. The Pacific Island nations under the leadership of all the heads of state present here today have therefore had to confront a dual development predicament that goes so far as to directly threaten the sustainable existence of our countries.
Hence, it is with urgency that we must establish an institution that can help manage the global environment by combining the strengths of all nations to comprehensively and thoroughly solve environmental problems. This May, I declared for the first time that Taiwan is willing to work with other nations to form the World Environment Organization (WEO). I take this opportunity today to once again make an appeal for this most important mission and duty to come to fruition, and to echo the spirit and goals of the Micronesia Challenge proposed by President Remengesau in 2005. I hope that the heads of state of all Taiwan's allies can write a letter to the secretary-general and each member state of the United Nations; together we can promote the birth of the WEO under the UN framework in a bid to ensure mankind's sustainable development and existence.
Taiwan and your esteemed countries are Pacific island nations. Although geographically distant from one another, our peoples share the same Austronesian blood and culture, and pursue the same universal values of democracy, freedom, peace and human rights. As part of the Pacific community, Taiwan has been consistently concerned with the affairs of the region. We want to cooperate closely with the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) to work towards overcoming natural limitations and meeting the four goals of economic growth, sustainable development, good governance and security, as laid out in the Pacific Plan.
On this auspicious occasion, I trust that this summit affords us the opportunity to both renew our friendships and to review the progress and achievements of the Palau Declaration. In addition, I hope that we can pool our wisdom, share our cooperation experiences, engage in discussions and exchange views. As such, together we can find ways to cope with the challenges ahead, and continue to raise the quality and number of cooperative projects between Taiwan and its Pacific allies, so as to realize a truly comprehensive cooperative partnership.
In closing, on behalf of the people and government of Taiwan, please allow me to express my most sincere appreciation to our allies for your staunch support of Taiwan's efforts to join international organizations and affairs. In particular, this year's historic step of applying to the UN under the name of Taiwan was supported by all of you. I want to express my special appreciation to those allies who spoke in favor of Taiwan at the UN.
I would like to wish all the leaders and honored guests present the best of health and every success, and may the summit also prove to be a resounding success. Thank you!