H.E. Jose C. De Venecia 
President of Lakas-National Union of Christian 
Muslim Democrats, Speaker of the
House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines, 
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 3rd ICAPP

 

Those among us who were present at the birth of our Conference in Manila 4 years ago can look back proudly to that historic beginning, for that was the first meeting in history of political parties in Asia, and the first such meeting of both ruling majority and minority parties in the world. Many thought that getting our political parties to work together in the spirit of fraternal consultation and cooperation was an impossible dream. Not only did we succeed and prove the doubters wrong, but today our political god child is growing well. As pointed out by President Arroyo the other day, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Prince Norodom Ranariddh of Cambodia said the other day, our political “god child” is growing well.

For here with us today are all, without exception, all the political leaders of Asia. And we congratulate the Communist Party of China for hosting this admirable conference. I say that the meeting in Manila was successful. I say that the second meeting in Bangkok was also very successful. But I say that so far this third meeting in Beijing has by far been the most successful of the ICAPP Conference.

This International Conference of Asian Political Parties was began in the hope that it will promote understanding and mutual trust among our political parties and among our nations and stimulate regional cooperation and safeguard the peace and unity of our continent.

For westerners who rely primarily on the rule of law to build trust, these outcomes might seem too much to expect from a conference that meets only once every two years, but not for Asians who put great value on personal relationships.

Let me just point out that after two meetings of the Standing Committee, one on the eve of the opening, secondly up to last night way beyond midnight, your Standing Committee has constructed a new political team. And in consultations with our host, the Communist Party of China, we wish to point out that the Standing Committee has increased from 14 to 15. And we’ll increase the depth and dimension and the sweep of the ICAPP Standing Committee to give strategic presence to nations from Northeast Asia, to nations from Southeast Asia, memberships from South Asia, and for the first time memberships for West Asia, and for the first time memberships for Central Asia. It is in this spirit that I would like to read to you the members of the Standing Committee.(list omitted)

We commend this new political team to you. And instead of meeting once every two years, it has been proposed that the Standing Committee should meet at least once a year, perhaps in Manila, perhaps in New Delhi, perhaps in Islamabad, perhaps in Teheran, because these are the new proponents for hosting ICAPP in the year 2006.

We have also decided to recommend to you the establishment of an electronic platform for ICAPP, a website for ICAPP, so that all the 100 political parties in Asia can communicate with each other instantly, quickly, rapidly and contribute our respective share in the development of policy — how we can help prevent conflicts, how we can monitor conflicts, how we can achieve preventive diplomacy. For indeed, foreign ministers and security ministers, they go out of their way to solve the problems of Asia. But it has been suggested that the political parties must also contribute to a preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution in Asia, because after all it is the political parties that make policy through their prime ministers, through their foreign ministers, through their members of parliament. For it has been said that governments come and go. Kings, prime ministers, presidents, governments they rise and fall. But it is the political parties that endure. It is the political parties that stay. It is the political parties that continue to guide the destinies of nations and of governments.

I would also like to acknowledge our beloved President of China, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Hu Jintao, Chairman Wu Bangguo, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-President Zeng Qinghong as well as Mr. Liu Yunshan, Mr. Wang Gang, Mr. Wang Jiarui and Mr. Ma Wenpu. We would like to say to you, we are grateful for your historic initiative in holding this historic conference in Beijing.

We are also grateful to Hans Seidel Stiftung and konral Adenauer stiftung of Germany for assisting the first ICAPP in Manila, and for assisting the second ICAPP in Bangkok, and for committing to support the activities of the Standing Committee as we move from capital to capital to strengthen and modernize the political parties in Asia.

I would also like to say that it is very clear from your acclamation, it is very clear from all the statements made by the political leaders who are here in representation of the political parties who are here. It is very clear that the political parties of Asia have decided to support and maintain and sustain the one China policy; and that the political parties of Asia, whether the parties of the left or the parties of the right or the parties of the center, all of us support the policy of one country two systems.

I also would like to say that in the Beijing Declaration, our single, most important role as political parties in Asia is to defeat poverty. And by defeating poverty, we should launch the beginnings of an Asian middle class. And by creating an Asian middle class, we look with great appreciation the incredible success of the Communist Party of China in lifting 400 million Chinese from poverty in what I call the greatest economic transformation in human history.

In recent weeks and in recent months, the Communist Party of China has provided rice seeds of the Chinese miracle rice, the high breed seeds. They have also provided miracle corn, high breed corn, for the farmers of the Philippines, and for the farmers of Asia, and for the farmers of Africa, and for the farmers of Latin America. On the basis of the Philippine experience, our rice production as a result of the high breed rice from China has increased by 100-200 %.

And therefore, we ask the political parties in Asia to request your agriculture ministers to sit down with the Agriculture Minister of the People’s Republic of China so that we can propagate this miracle high breed rice of China so that all the farmers of Asia, Latin America and Africa will be able to double their production by at least 100%.

We have also discussed in the Standing Committee that the problem of corruption in Asia continue. And the political parties in Asia get blamed. And the politicians in Asia in the view of public perception are to blame. I wish to point out that all the political parties in Europe are subsidized by their governments. The political parties in North America are subsidized by their governments. The political parties in Australia and New Zealand are subsidized by their governments. Political parties in Japan are subsidized by their government. Now we have the beginnings of the political parties in Thailand being subsidized by their government.

We put here and recommend strongly in this Beijing Declaration that as we move from now to the next site of the ICAPP conference, whether it being Jakarta, or Seoul, or New Delhi, or Islamabad, or Teheran, we would like to propose to all your respective parliaments through the political parties in Asia that we should introduce legislation in our parliaments so that the states would give financial assistance and subsidy to all the political parties in Asia.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our Standing Committee notes that one of the great sons of this ICAPP conference, Foreign Minister Surakiart has been nominated by his government and by his party to the post of Secretary General of the United Nations. Foreign Minister Surakiart, one of the respected political leaders of Southeast Asia, and a scholar, is contending for the post of UN Secretary General because now in the next two years it is the turn of Asia, the turn of Asia after Africa hosting the Secretary General Kofi Annan. In two years it’s the turn of Asia. My name has also been suggested by some members of parliament in the Philippines. But let me tell in all honesty that I believe, personally, the much better man is Foreign Minister Surakiart of Thailand.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We now come to a close of our conference. We should hear the closing speech of one the senior leaders of China, Liu Yunshan, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 3rd ICAPP. We could not have succeeded without the Communist Party of China. Therefore, my dear friend, ladies and gentlemen, I now bid you farewell until we see you at the next ICAPP meeting in Seoul, in New Delhi, in Islamabad or Teheran.

Bon Voyage.