Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-02-Speech-1-095"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001002.7.1-095"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, first of all I should like to tell Mr Nassauer that while we must regret the fact that the European Union has a low profile in the countries of Asia, we must also admit our own responsibility to a certain extent and acknowledge our missed opportunities. For example, a month ago we voted on Mr Galeote Quecedo’s report on diplomacy and foreign policy. This report does not in fact deal with diplomacy and foreign policy but instead confines itself to tackling the question of the postgraduate training, if you will, of European diplomats, or future diplomats. Another missed opportunity.
On the matter of ASEAN, we ought to ask ourselves what type of relations the European Union has or ought to have with ASEAN. Firstly, we cannot ignore the very different concepts of integration in the European Union and within ASEAN. There is no political integration, not even the prospect of political integration, between the ASEAN countries, nor should we forget, as I feel some previous speakers seem to have done, that the governments within ASEAN are all very different: we have totalitarian or dictatorial regimes, even hardline dictatorships like China, alongside democratic countries. It is not, therefore, surprising that there is, in this context, no real integration or genuine political dialogue. The European Union should perhaps look into the problem and return to good, sound bilateral relations which could be appreciably different according to whether they involved a democracy or a dictatorial or totalitarian regime.
I also think that the optimism shown regarding the Korean reunification process is somewhat excessive. The one swallow that you might see in the summit between the President of the Korean Republic and the leader of the dictatorial regime of North Korea does not definitely mean that winter is over for the citizens of North Korea. Let me remind you, ladies and gentlemen, that in the course of the last five years, somewhere between two and four million people have died of starvation under this idyllic regime.
Similarly, I find it intolerable that the European Union, in its dialogue with Asia, should avoid the question of India, which is a democracy, with a population in the order of that of its neighbour on the other side, China, but not the same type of government, and which does not have the same special relationship with the European Union. Like Mr Maaten, I feel we cannot carry on ignoring the question of Taiwan for much longer, not just in the process underway between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, but also within international cooperation schemes, even though I am not one of those people who think that these are very effective.
I therefore feel that we cannot continue to disregard this Chinese monster, which is slowly changing into a Communist dictatorship, a new, national Communist dictatorship. We have had a forty-year Cold War between the Soviet Union and the democratic world, and I think there is an urgent need to avoid wasting opportunities like these summits to lift the lid on this major problem.
Finally, Mrs Randzio-Plath, I should like to say that if we wish to step up parliamentary cooperation, we can only do so with the democratic countries in this region, i.e. with countries that actually have parliaments. If there is to be any parliamentary cooperation at all, then it must be with such countries and not with the officials of the Communist Party of China or other countries in the region."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples