Ten non-governmental organizations (NGOs) announced yesterday that they have joined the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), an international civic movement aimed at promoting peace.
"GPPAC is perhaps the largest peace-building organization in the world. Wars are usually initiated by a nation's government, which the people have no control over. How-ever, being the global citizens we are today, civilians should have a voice about wars," said Chien Hsi-chieh, executive director of Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The anti-Iraqi war movement in 2003, Chien pointed out, was a good example of an anti-war movement that lacked in overall organization and structure, as most of the activities occurred online.
As a result, although the anti-war voices of civilians were strong, they had little impact on a government's decision to wage war.
GPPAC was formed in response to the call by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2003 for a worldwide conflict-prevention community.
Other groups that joined GPPAC include the Awakening Foundation, Taiwan Security Research Center, Taiwan Labor Front, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, Alliance for Peace Homeland and Youth Rights Alliance.
Philip Yang (
"GPPAC operates according to the concept of `human security,' where the ultimate goal is not the security of a country, but the safety of individuals," he said.
According to Yang, one example of a successful security movement promoted by NGOs was the anti-landmine campaign in 1997. Every country in the Northeast Asia region, with the exception of North Korea, has joined this movement.
This region alone, the 10 groups said, makes up one-quarter of world's population and encompasses several sensitive military issues and post-war problems such as the conflicts between the two Koreas, Pyongyang's nuclear threat, cross-strait relations, Japan-Russia territorial issues and the Tiaoyutai Islands dispute between Taiwan and Japan.
Akira Kawasaki, a member of the executive committee of Japan's Peace Boat and a representative of GPPAC Northeast Asia region, said the security of one country affected the rest of the region.
"It is like a chain reaction. For instance, if North Korea decides to ratchet up its military armament, then Japan is going to follow suit," he said.
GPPAC representatives from Northeast Asia are scheduled to meet in Tokyo next month to set a regional agenda. According to Chien, cross-strait relations has been an off-limits topic at previous meetings with China's GPPAC members, but it might be brought up in future conferences.
"We look forward to having a sit-down dialogue with China's civic groups to resolve cross-strait conflicts by peaceful measures," Chien said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but