Address by H.E. Vice President Lu Hsiu-Lien
At the Luncheon of the Asia-Pacific Democratic Cooperation Forum
Dr. Chang (張建邦), Dr. Peng (彭明敏), Co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Democratic Cooperation Forum, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure to attend today's luncheon with so many distinguished guests from all over the world. On behalf of the people of Taiwan, I sincerely wish you a successful conference and a pleasant stay in Taiwan.
This Forum is a wonderful opportunity for democratic leaders around the world to get together to advocate for democratic values, to highlight universal human rights, and to reiterate our commitment to eradicate all unjust and authoritarian governments on earth. The collapse of communist regimes in Soviet Union and Eastern Europe has brought into an end the fierce rivalry between liberal democracy and dictatorship. In the meantime, more than 120 countries have overturned authoritarian or military regimes, and espoused political liberty. We are particularly encouraged to see democratizing processes going on throughout the region during the past two decades. Over the past centuries, philosophers, scholars and political leaders have devoted significant efforts to the debates about what kind of political life would meet the interests of the people. The answer is quite clear: freedom and democracy have become an inevitable trend in the new millennium.
Among the new democracies around the world, Taiwan is indeed a miracle. By the mid-1980s, the people of Taiwan had lived under Martial Law for almost four decades, the longest in human history. Under the rule of an authoritarian government, the basic human rights had been strictly curtailed. The press was censored and all forms of opposition movements were banned. Virtually all the opposition leaders and activists were either jailed or forced to exile.
The then autocratic Kuomintang government banned the formation of political parties to maintain its dominance as the ruling party, but the opposition movements strongly advocated for democracy and an end to authoritarian rule. In 1980, the "Kaohsiung Incident" resulted in the arrest of all the opposition leaders after a mass demonstration turned violent, with hundreds injured. Despite the fact that virtually the entire leadership of Taiwan's democracy movement was imprisoned, the arrests and trials in effect consolidated the opposition's demands for changes in the government and brought world attention to the political situation in Taiwan.
As the only genuine opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) immediately pushed for "complete reelection of the Legislature" and "direct presidential election" to make Taiwan a democracy and give political power back to the people. In 1992, the DPP achieved its longstanding goal of ending the absurd policy of "parliamentarians for life” that allowed the legislators elected before 1949 to remain in office as long as they lived. And in 2000, the DPP rewrote history again. Mr. Chen Shui-bian and I, as candidates of the opposition DPP, won the presdiential election and terminated the 55-year-long one-party-rule on this island.
Taiwan's "political miracle" has several concrete manifestations:
Firstly, the 55-year-long rule of Taiwan by the KMT was peacefully overthrown by an opposition party. This attests to the wisdom of the Taiwan people to pressure the KMT, a party originally established along Marxist lines, to gradually transform itself from a rigidly authoritarian regime to a softer version, then from this softer form into a pluralistic and open democratic government that peacefully handed over power.
Secondly, Confucian thought had long been considered by the Western democracies to be the basis of oriental despotism. However, the DPP of Taiwan had created a democratic anomaly among Confucian societies.
Thirdly, for the first time in the history of Taiwan and the Chinese people, a female leader was elected to become vice president. This marked a new milestone for gender equality in Taiwan politics and added an invaluable precedent for global gender-neutral politics. For women's rights, female political leaders and businesswomen, Taiwan is one of the most advanced countries in Asia. One-fifth of the Legislature is female, one-fourth of the cabinet members are women, and one-third of the Taipei city council consists of councilwomen.
Fourthly, I was one of the eight "seditious elements"charged by the KMT regime in the "Kaohsiung Incident" 23 years ago simply because I made a 20-minute speech in the International Human Rights Day rally held in Kaohisung, while Mr. Chen Shui-bian was one of the fifteen defense lawyers to defend for the eight major "sedious elements" in that martial law trial. No one could have imagined that, 20 years later, one of the lawyers would fight shoulder to shoulder with one of the defendants to win the presidential election, and completed peaceful transition of power in Taiwan. What a dramatic story!
The year 2000 election was a major milestone in Taiwan's political history as we finally achieved a peaceful transfer of power. Although we continue to face military threats from Beijing, our experience gives us confidence that the universal values of freedom and democracy will inevitably triumph over dictatorship.
And of course we are greatly encouraged to see similar processes going on throughout the region over the past two decades. With increasing links with the established democracies in the Asia-Pacific, from America to India, Japan to Australia, the future of democracy for the whole region looks bright indeed. Yet the biggest challenge for democratic leaders in the Asia-Pacific is to integrate our resources and information to establish an international network to help consolidate democratic values and to protect the lives and rights of all human beings in the region. Integration based on common democratic values has been going on in other parts of the world: After centuries of wars and hostilities, European leaders finally decided to put aside their differences and to create a federation so as to promote political and economic relations. The idea was realized in 1952 when six countries took action to pool their coal and steel resources to an economic community. The European Coal and Steel Community, the original format of the European Union, has developed into a well-established political community with commitment to the promotion of democracy, economic prosperity, and the rule of law on the European soil. At present, the European Union has fifteen member states, and is preparing for the accession of ten more eastern and southern European countries.
With the European Union as the leading example, almost all the world's regions have developed regional organizations, and these are steadily expanding or upgrading their functions. The EU itself is getting ready to expand into Eastern Europe; the Organization of American States has created the Inter-American Democratic Charter and is working on the Free Trade Area of the Americas; and the Organization of African Unity has just this year turned over a new leaf as the African Union. All of these organizations are firmly based on the common values of their members. Without that foundation, they can hardly be effective in addressing the real needs of their peoples.
Here in Asia, we have long lacked such a consensus of values, and that is probably the primary reason we have lagged behind in regional development. Among the five communist countries in the world, four are in Asia—China, Vietnam, Laos and North Korea. And among Asia’s 39 countries, 15 are yet to be democratized. Still, we have a wide diversity of cultures, religions, and languages, even within Asian countries. However, I would like to postulate that our commitment to democracy and human rights can be the glue that can hold together a genuine Asia-Pacific community. With the universal standards of fundamental human rights as our bottom line, and democracy as our basic political process, we can greatly increase mutual communication, understanding and cooperation.
In line with this goal, I have been advocating the formation of a Pacific Democratic Union, with a view to bringing together all democratic countries in the Pacific region as the first step to deal with the problems we face. Covering one-third of the earth’s surface, the Pacific Ocean is fast becoming the dynamic powerhouse of the new century. But growing regional trade and transportation do not translate into reduced threat to the lives and wealth of its collective citizenry, as most Pacific countries today face mementous environmental change, over-fishing and intensified battles for limited resources owing to populations growth. Global warming even threatens the very existence of certain island states in the coming decades.
The solution to these problems depends on cooperation and coordination among Pacific countries based on the premise of human security—where the safety of individuals is of primary concern. It is this concept that is re-defining the nature of world politics and supplanting national security as the impetus for global action.
As the first step toword the future Pacific Democratic Union, at this moment, I am preparing for the 2002 Pacific Democratic Assembly scheduled for the week the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights' 54th anniversary in the coming December in Taipei. That Assembly will focus on human security and democratic values as well as the substantial development of the Pacific Ocean to promote cooperation among Pacific countries. More than 100 guests from democratic societies in the Pacific will share experiences and insights concerning our regional future. I sincerely hope that all of you will lend your generous support for this common course of ours.
Taiwan is well-placed to take the lead in the process of building an Asia-Pacific community with a new soft civilization of human rights, democracy, peace, love and technology to overcome the crisis of military confrontation and economic exploitation. And I believe today’s conference is a good start. I hope all of us can take this opportunity to get to know each other better, and to develop a true and lasting partnership. I am sure that together we can accomplish our goals, and make our region a new hub of freedom, prosperity and peace in the 21st century.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I now propose a toast to friendship, cooperation, and to the success of our sacred mission!
Thank you!