In remarks to the gathering, President Ma noted that 70 parliamentarians from 14 countries have come to participate in the APPU general assembly, adding that he trusts that everyone will take advantage of this opportunity to come away with a better understanding of the ROC (Taiwan) on a wide range of fronts.
The president commented that the APPU was originally called the Asian Parliamentarians' Union (APU). The APU was organized in 1965 by former Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi with the objective of having national groups of parliamentarians from free countries promote and defend the values of freedom and democracy. In 1980, parliamentarians from parliaments in the Pacific region joined the organization and the name was changed to the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians' Union. President Ma said he recalls 40 years ago in 1969 when he was still a student in university the APPU held its general assembly in Taiwan. He said that he was even involved in the event by helping in the reception of the representatives attending the meeting. Therefore, the president said that his history with the APPU may date back even further than some of the representatives who are in attendance here today.
President Ma said that everyone is aware that martial law was instituted here after the ROC government retreated from mainland China to Taiwan. However, elections were reinstituted the following year, and in 1987 martial law was lifted, he said. All seats in the entire legislature was put up for election in 1991, which laid the foundation for grassroots democracy here. Meanwhile, 1996 marked the first time in an ethnic Chinese society that a president was directly elected by the people. Four years later in 2000, the Kuomintang (KMT), which had been in power for 50 years, lost the presidency and the Democratic Progressive Party assumed power. Eight years later, the KMT again won the presidency and became the ruling party again. President Ma said that we deeply appreciate the message sent by former United States President George W. Bush that called Taiwan "a beacon of democracy to Asia and the world."
President Ma remarked that our democracy here is still a young one and that much more work is needed to establish even stronger democratic mechanisms. The president said democracy does not merely refer to elections, but rather to freedom and democracy, which includes the protection of human rights and a society based on rule of law. President Ma said that this year, the ROC (Taiwan) approved and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. He noted that in fact, the ROC already signed these two covenants in 1967. However, before ratification here, the nation left the United Nations (UN). While we are not a member of the UN, we have still passed these two covenants. The president said that we fully realize that Taiwan presently is unable to have documents indicating that it has ratified these two covenants deposited at the UN Secretariat. Nonetheless, the legislature has incorporated these two covenants into domestic law.
Therefore, regardless of whether the ROC (Taiwan) is able to deposit the ratified covenants at the UN Secretariat, we did not have to wait for three months for the content of these covenants to become part of domestic law, he said, as they have already become law here. President Ma said the Ministry of Justice is presently carrying out a thorough examination of existing laws to determine whether any regulations contravene the content of these two covenants. President Ma said that the protection of human rights has become an extremely important goal for the government. In the future, he said, the ROC government will make every effort possible to fulfill democracy and ensure the protection of human rights, and it hopes to maintain close cooperation based on this foundation with each of the representatives taking part in the APPU general assembly. We shall work together to defend democracy and achieve the common desire for a stable and prosperous Asia-Pacific, he said.