Your Holiness,
To celebrate the World Day of Peace, on January 1st Your Holiness issued the message "The Human Family, A Community of Peace." The meaningful words have been conveyed to me by the ambassador to the Holy See of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Tou Chou-seng. I was truly touched by Your Holiness's warm message, stressing to the world core family values that can serve as a compass pointing nations down the path for the construction of a loving, just, harmonious, and peaceful international community. Please allow me to render my highest respect to Your Holiness for your profound wisdom and insight.
In this message, Your Holiness stressed, "The family is 'the primary living cell of society'… [and] the very foundation of peace. Consequently, whoever, even unknowingly, circumvents the institution of the family undermines peace in the entire community, national and international, since he weakens what is in effect the primary agency of peace." In the face of uprising disputes around the world and continued military expansion and proliferation of nuclear weapons, world peace has been put at severe risk. I earnestly hope that world leaders will embrace the call of Your Holiness, "Humanity is one great family, acknowledging God as the deepest source of our own existence and that of others. We do not live alongside one another purely by chance; all of us are progressing along a common path as men and women, and thus as brothers and sisters…. By going back to this supreme principle we are able to perceive the unconditional worth of each human being, and thus to lay the premises for building a humanity at peace."
In this age of global warming, natural resources are slowly but surely drying up, the environment is being destroyed by mankind, and the Earth's limited resources are resting in the hands of a few powerful nations. This has enlarged the disparity between the rich and the poor, and threatened peace for and the existence of all mankind. I hold Your Holiness in the highest esteem for seeing into the heart of this crisis and for insisting that the world protect the environment through the statement, "The environment that God the Creator has given us to inhabit with creativity and responsibility. We need to care for the environment: it has been entrusted to men and women to be protected and cultivated with responsible freedom, with the good of all as a constant guiding criterion."
The Republic of China (Taiwan), as a member of the global village, has assumed its responsibility to protect the environment and preserve the Earth. Having long been persecuted by communist China, Taiwan has been excluded from taking part in such international organizations as the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO). As a result, Taiwan has been unable to work hand in hand with the international community in seeking solutions to issues of mutual concern, especially to matters regarding the survival of mankind. China's behavior fails to meet the expectations expressed in the message by Your Holiness, "in order to face this situation effectively, there is a need to act in harmony, and there is a particular need to intensify dialogue between nations." China, with its one thousand mid-range missiles deployed along its coast, threatens peace in the Taiwan Strait and in the rest of Asia as well. By so doing, China turns its back to the moral values binding the conduct of the international community and ignores the message of Your Holiness.
In the message, Your Holiness also states, "For the sake of peace, a common law is needed, one which would foster true freedom rather than blind caprice, and protect the weak from oppression by the strong… power must always be disciplined by law, and this applies also to relations between sovereign States." For many a year, Taiwan has been forcefully excluded from the UN system by hegemonic China, thereby depriving the people of Taiwan of their fundamental human right to equal participation in the international community and violating the principle of universality upheld in the UN Chapter. For the very first time, last year my country applied to join the UN using the name of Taiwan. Although we were disappointed that the application was denied, we must keep in mind an old saying of ours, "the virtuous never stand alone." I am confident that with the righteous support of the Holy See and our other allies, Taiwan will someday gain a more encouraging response from the international community.
This year not only is blessed by the message of Your Holiness for the World Day of Peace, but also marks the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also happens to be the 40th anniversary of the first World Day of Peace, a tradition that has been honored by Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II and Your Holiness.
I would like to extend my utmost appreciation to Your Holiness for your long-standing support of Taiwan's democratization. It is my sincere hope that the ideal of Your Holiness, "The Human Family, A Community of Peace," can be realized in every corner of the world. The people and government of Taiwan fully support the ultimate goals of Your Holiness and hope to join forces with you in pursuing them.
Please accept, Your Holiness, my highest respect, as well as my best wishes for your good health and the prosperity of the Holy See.