Taiwan Today

On August 24, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Executive Director Juan Carlos Capunay delivered an invitation in person to President Ma Ying-jeou, inviting a representative of Taiwan, under the name Chinese Taipei, to participate in APEC's summit of economic leaders to be held in Lima, Peru later this month. Taiwan has a strong history of participation in APEC events. APEC was founded in 1989, and Taiwan has been a member for all but two years of the organization's existence. More tellingly, in a typical year, the organization holds an average of 200 meetings, and so far this year, Taiwan has participated in 160 of them. It is very clear that participation in APEC has benefited Taiwan and other members of the organization. For Taiwan, the economic benefits accrued since joining APEC in 1991 have been enormous. In 2006, Taiwan's bilateral trade with APEC member economies amounted to more than US$4 trillion. On the other hand, membership in APEC has enabled Taiwan to assist other members of the organization with the knowledge it has gained in various fields. For example, in 2003, Taiwan proposed the APEC Digital Opportunity Center project, an initiative intended to reduce the digital divide in member countries. The project has led to the construction of 19 computer centers and the training of more than 100 teachers in seven APEC member economies. Taiwan has also gained experience in the field of natural disaster management, especially through relief efforts mounted in the aftermath of disasters such as the September 21, 1999 earthquake in Taiwan, as well as this year's May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province, mainland China. In response to the latter earthquake, Taiwan sent a team of search and rescue specialists to Sichuan on May 16, followed by a team of medical professionals several days later. To share the knowledge it has gained, in May this year Taiwan proposed hosting a workshop on disaster recovery under the auspices of the APEC Task Force for Emergency Preparedness. Support for Taiwan's proposal was enthusiastic, with 11 member countries agreeing to act as co-sponsors. The proposal became reality at the end of September when Taiwan and mainland China jointly organized and hosted an APEC event dubbed the Workshop on Large-Scale Disaster Recovery. The Taiwan part of the workshop was held over four days in Taipei and Nantou County, the epicenter of the 1999 earthquake, while the mainland China portion was hosted in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Through efforts such as hosting the workshop, Taiwan continues to lead the way in developing methods to ameliorate the effects of natural disasters. For example, Taiwan is tapping its strength in information technology by adding greater capacity to collect, analyze and distribute relevant data to its disaster information system, enabling authorities to respond more effectively. Taiwan is also developing a system to predict the results of natural disasters, enabling the central and local governments to formulate proactive policies and take precautionary measures. In the bigger picture, Taiwan's APEC participation should provide a clear example of what this island has to offer to the officials and member nations of the World Health Organization (WHO). The current cross-strait political environment precludes Taiwan's participation in the WHO, to the detriment of not only people in Taiwan, but also those around the world who could benefit from Taiwan's medical experience, such as that gained during efforts to contain the outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003. Through APEC initiatives such as the disaster workshop co-hosted with mainland China, Taiwan has shown that it has a strong contribution to make to the world, if only given the opportunity.