Photo of Suh Ching-chang, President of the Executive Yuan of Taiwan, and others from the March 28, 2022 edition of the Liberty Times (https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/3874627)
The 11th World Congress of the World Democratic Movement will be held in Taiwan from October 25 to 27. More than 300 experts from over 70 countries are expected to attend. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to address the opening ceremony of the conference, and Taiwanese officials and Oleksandr Melezhko, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament, will also speak at the opening ceremony dinner.
According to a press release issued by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the conference will bring together democratic activists and political leaders to discuss how to address authoritarian provocations and promote the rise of democratic forces. The conference will be the largest international conference to be held in Taiwan.
However, there have been some events that have put a damper on this international conference. On the 18th, Premier So Tei-chang tested positive for the new coronavirus. The fact that a top political official such as the Premier has contracted the disease raises concerns about Taiwan’s quarantine system. Japan has had a bitter experience with the Tokyo Olympics, which was the worst ever held due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. This is a major damage to the image of Taiwan, which has been recognized worldwide as having taken excellent measures in terms of its quarantine system.
Despite the fact that this world conference is a historical conference that has been held since 1999, the Japanese media seems to have never covered it. A keyword search of the same type of keywords on the “Newspaper Cross Search Service” provided by NIFTY showed no evidence of coverage of the conference.
Perhaps this is why, when we asked a political source about the conference, he replied, “I have never heard of such a conference before. The Diet is currently in a state of flux over the Unification Association issue, with cabinet ministers repeating dysfunctional answers, and the Diet is in such a state of confusion that there is little time for anything else.
Japan claims to be a democratic nation, but the fact that it is unaware of the existence of such a world conference is also problematic. While we hope that the conference will be a success, the event also shows Japan’s concern over the inadequacy of Taiwan’s quarantine system and its inability to afford to care about the political situation in Japan.
We would also like to point out a problem on the management side as well. The National People’s Congress in China will close on October 22, and the organizers have announced that the World Congress will be held in Taiwan on the date immediately following the Congress. This can only be seen as a provocation to China, as it could worsen Chinese sentiment and spark a firestorm that could ignite the China-Taiwan issue. Aggravation of the China-Taiwan issue could also aggravate the Senkaku issue in Japan, and Japan is not an issue to be left out of the discussion. Russia invaded Ukraine in February of this year, and immediately after that in March, the decision was made to hold the October meeting in Taiwan. The worsening of the China-Taiwan problem could also lead to a worsening of Japan-China relations, and if the meeting is to be held with global security in mind, the power balance among related countries should also be considered.