The G-8 Summit and Taiwan

Lung-chu Chen

The 3-day G-8 Summit concluded on July 23 and issued a joint communique. These eight countries are: the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Russia. The three major subjects of discussion were: stability of the world, further prosperity, and peace of the mind. The communique emphasized that all members of the international community should abide by the Charter of the United Nations to settle disputes by peaceful means, and urged that the World Trade Organization (WTO) begin a new round of multilateral trade negotiations this year. The summit issued "IT Okinawa Charter", emphasizing that information technology will be a driving force for development in the new century and urging that major advanced industrial countries should do their utmost to help bring developing countries into the new era of information society. Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori of the host country Japan concluded that the Okinawa Summit opened up the path to the world into the 21st century.

The summit touched upon a wide range of topics, but gave the impression that it deliberately tried to avoid controversial issues. For example, the Taiwan strait area, so close to Okinawa, is a potential world conflict point, but was not included in the agenda. Why? The China factor and Japan's excessive caution.

Though the Summit deliberately avoided the security issue in the Taiwan Strait, the fact remains that the Taiwan Strait issue is a matter of international concern rather than "an internal affair of China." Any issue that affects regional security and world peace is of course a matter of international concern. The reference to peaceful settlement of disputes attests to the point.

Following the North-South Korean Summit, Russian President Putin's respective visits to North Korea and China, a promise of a potential strategic relationship between Russia and China, the big power relations in East Asia are changing. Amid this process of change, Taiwan must be alert and wise. Given its strategic importance, the island nation of Taiwan must strive to be a player rather than somebody's chip. God helps those who help themselves. Taiwan must stand up and be counted.