President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of January 18 attended celebrations marking World Freedom Day 2009 and the 53rd annual convention of the World League for Freedom and Democracy (WLFD) Republic of China Chapter at the Grand Hotel in Taipei. Invited to deliver remarks at the event, President Ma lauded the WLFD for its contributions and efforts over the years and also expressed his appreciation to the foreign guests from over 20 countries attending the festivities. He said he hopes everyone will work to raise the level of freedom, democracy, human rights, and rule of law in Taiwan.
President Ma noted that on January 23, 1954, over 14,000 ex-Communist Chinese soldiers that fought in the Korean War decided to seek their freedom. With arrangements made by the United Nations (UN) and the ROC government, the troops arrived in Taiwan at Keelung Harbor. The president said this points to the fact that even during the Cold War, soldiers behind the Iron Curtain had a strong desire to be free. As a result, this day was designated as Freedom Day, which gradually spread throughout the world. The WLFD served as an umbrella bringing together freedom lovers from throughout the world in order to strive for freedom and democracy. From that time all the way until the present, the ROC has gone through the various stages in the development of freedom and democracy, the president said.
President Ma told the participants at the event that the non-governmental organization Freedom House, which is headquartered in New York City, recently selected Taiwan as the place where it released its Freedom in the World 2009 report. Taiwan was selected since Freedom House believed that it has made outstanding progress and achievements in the transition to freedom and democracy, he said, adding that upon the conclusion of the March 22 presidential election here last year, US President George W. Bush sent a congratulatory message to him and Vice President-elect Vincent C. Siew. In the message, President Bush praised Taiwan as a beacon for democracy in Asia and the world, which President Ma said he found extremely moving. This does not mean, however, that Taiwan does not have any more room to improve in terms of freedom and democracy, President Ma said. As a result, since taking office, the president said he has aggressively promoted reforms in a variety of areas.
The president stressed that Taiwan's freedom and democracy have been achieved only thanks to the enormous efforts of many. He said that many have made sacrifices over the years in the pursuit of freedom and democracy. People should not hesitate, and they should maintain their principles to achieve this goal, he said. President Ma said that last year on Human Rights Day, he specially advocated that the ROC should as quickly as possible approve the two human rights-related covenants passed by the UN in 1966 – the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The president said that if the ROC wants to become a nation in step with international human rights standards, it must pass these two covenants.
Lastly, the president noted that freedom and democracy comprise an important foundation for Taiwan's survival in the world arena and he is confident that Taiwan will receive recognition from an even greater number of countries based on its efforts currently being made to resolve disputes between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, to improve cross-strait relations, and to further improve freedom and democracy here.