H.E.Gloria Macapagal Arroyo 
Chairperson of the 
Lakas-National Union of Christian Muslim Democrats,
President of the Republic of the Philippines

 

Vice President Zeng Qinghong and the other officials of the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party of China,

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,

Prime Minister Semdech Hun Sen,

Speaker Fransisco Guterres,

Our leader from Syria,

Excellencies of the diplomatic corps,

Fellow delegates to the 3rd ICAPP, especially our last night elected Chairman of the Standing Committee, and I’d like to remind everybody, the founder of Political Parties, Philippine Speaker Jose De Venecia,

As the President of the country in which this conference was founded in the year 2000 when Speaker De Venecia and I were still in the opposition, I would like to greet all of you today, and to express my happiness about how this conference has grown to be so important. There are 350 delegates to this conference. There are 300 journalists covering this conference, and we should congratulate ourselves for what we have been able to achieve.

We meet here in the great People’s Republic of China, the new and giant market economy that is surely a determining influence in the economic evolution of Asia. We meet today, emulating China, our host country. We meet in the spirit of the market, the spirit of economic democracy, the spirit of openness to one another, the spirit that will build prosperity and end conflict, the spirit that will bring about change and win the battle against poverty in our Asian region.

We thank China, especially the Communist Party of China for the formidable and splendid preparations for this conference, not only in its amenities, but in the representation and attendance by the officials of this great country. This hosting by the Communist Party of China cannot but enhance the international status of “the emerging economic center of gravity of Asia and the world”.

China is the largest growing economy in the world. Its entry into the World Trade Organization and its determined emergence as a market economy makes it a major market for the export sectors for all of our various economies in Asia and in the world for that matter.

But this hosting by the Communist Party of China projects not only China’s determining influence in the economic situation of the region, it also showcases China’s enlightened approach to economic democratization and gives us all a chance to witness how it has transformed itself into a market economy. Most of all, it highlights China’s role as a friend and neighbor to all of us.

It is auspicious that we gather today in this great city, in this great country, to celebrate the political parties of Asia.

Here in this hall we neither acknowledge ideological lines nor seek alignments. As our distinguished Vice President of the People’s Republic of China states, our basic principles are independence, complete equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. From Manila to Bangkok, and now here we have carried these principles. We bring these principles from Manila to Bangkok and Bangkok to Beijing because we believe that a large part of our future, of our respective countries lies here. We exceeded the previous two conferences not only in terms of size, but in terms of the breadth of our vision and the strength of our spirit.

Our theme is “Exchange, Cooperation and Development”.

Exchange. Exchange of ideas, exchange of experiences, exchange of best practices. Exchange for the purpose of learning, exchange for the purpose of synthesis, especially for those of us, like in the Philippines, who are fighting for change. For those of us fighting for change, we need this kind of exchange provided by the political parties in this conference.

As China has done with a great success, we aim to forge a synthesis of ideology and party to liberate people from economic deprivation, and bring security to those who are still in fear. As political parties of Asia, we are the hope of Asia.

Our delegation from the Philippines is a microcosm of the parties that make up this conference, for Philippine politics is descendant of the same ideological lines that divided Asia decades ago.

And in the same way that other nations have done, we have drawn the extreme points of ideological conflict towards the center. In the Philippines, we have former military rebels of the right engaged in the political mainstream, just as we have representatives of the left engaged in both the regular and party list system of our legislature.

Politics, indeed, is the art of the possible, and it does this through exchange, through cooperation. Through exchange, politics collects the wisdom of past experience, sheds off the unworkable dogmas, and symbolizes new and bold directions for nations and societies.

And when contemporary politicians meet, as in our gathering today, through exchange the world shifts from the monochromatic framework of the Cold War to the full color and glory of the ideological richness of the new millennium.

For countries like mine fighting for change we need this ideological richness to be able to carve out which formula or which combination of formulas will work best for our country.

On my part, I hope to learn from the experience of the political parties of Asia as I advocate for the transition of our country to a federal-parliamentary state.

As I envision it, that I have much to learn from all of you. Federalism is not merely a political form; it will have substantive implications on the political economy of the nation. Therefore, we must address the issue of economic viability and the preparedness of component states.

From our present situation as an archipelago, the next transition is now to gear towards a wider distribution of economic zones such as those pioneered successfully right here in China, then towards autonomy and then to statehood.

As for the shift to the parliamentary form of government, it must be spearheaded. I believe and again, I have much to learn from this assembly. It must be spearheaded by meaningful political reforms, particularly a law on political parties that would spur the rehabilitation of our societal organizations and mass movements, and cleaning up of our electoral processes. This could include measures to subsidize political parties in the margins of competition, so as to diminish the influence of moneyed power brokers in the electoral process. This will also assist the parties in advocating public issues and offering reasonable options for a nation’s future.

I have said this to the Filipino people often enough: we must change the character of our politics in order to create the fertile ground for true reforms. The politics of personality and patronage must give way to a new politics of party programs and a process of institutionalized consultation with the people.

Party-to-party, state-to-state, people-to-people, — this is the way we strive to build the ramparts of regional cooperation. As cooperation, aside from exchange and development is our theme for this conference.

Cooperation. We are determined to strengthen our culture of cooperation among Asia’s political parties with a view towards formulating a common strategy for development for Asia in the next 25 years.

Heads of state cannot do it alone. Political parties must be the partners of the government of every nation in finding appropriate responses to our common problems. The linkages of this conference — the cooperation will contribute much to the realization of our regional aspirations: transforming the region from a region of conflict to a region of cooperation, molding economic fragments in a region into one integrated whole, finding security in creative partnerships that transcend historical animosity and strife.

For every meeting we have, for every handshake we extend across the leadership of Asia, we come closer to the regional neighborhood that binds our common aspirations.

Today, our exchanges are no longer the stale ideological debate of the past, but a genuine and vibrant discourse on shared peace and prosperity, because prosperity and peace are what development is all about. And development is the third element of our theme in this conference, aside from exchange and cooperation.

In mutual respect of one another’s beliefs, we hope to make the best out of a troubled and uncertain world. And in trying to make the best out of what we have today much has already been taking place towards exchange, cooperation and development. In the institutional realm we have APEC, Asean, Asean Plus Three, our Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, various accords against terrorism, the six-nation talks on the Korean Peninsula, Nam, Asem, and many more institutions and accords — all for the transformation of Asia into a zone of freedom, peace and prosperity.

Political parties, I call on you, let us further enrich these institutions by the force of our political ideas that respond to the demands of this century.

Political parties, I call on you, let us join hands, once more, to bring our political parties — the political parties of Asia into the service of a peaceful and prosperous world, into the world of development for our region.

To all of you, congratulations and thank you.