FOLLOW US
G. Macapagal Arroyo: Address to Peace Summit 2023, Session III-A
Written by H.E. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, senior deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (2022-2023), president (2001-2010), Philippines
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
Dr. Thomas Walsh, Dr. Yun Young-ho, ladies, and gentlemen,
I am delighted to address this summit on contemporary challenges to global order. It is auspicious to hold this summit in South Korea for three reasons:
First, this is the home of the co-founder of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, who has done an outstanding job of relentlessly advocating for world peace. Second, South Korea is a modern miracle, rising from the ashes of the devastating Korean War to become a global economic and cultural powerhouse in one generation. Third, in two months, we will mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement.
Seven thousand Filipino soldiers fought alongside South Korean soldiers in the war. The Philippines was the third country in the world to send troops, preceded only by the United States and Britain. When my father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, was a newly-elected congressman, he authored the law that sent Filipino troops to Korea in 1950. One of those troops was 22-year-old army lieutenant Fidel Ramos, who had freshly graduated from the U.S. Military Academy West Point. He was a combatant in North Korea and then went on to become the president of the Philippines 40 years later. Ninoy Aquino, the husband of his predecessor, President Cory Aquino, began his career as a 17-year-old news correspondent covering the Korean War for the most prestigious newspaper in Manila.
Now, seventy years after the armistice, there are contemporary challenges to global and regional order that in many ways mirror the challenges that South Korea faced in 1950 when the war began. But this time, the prospects for preserving peace might be brighter because, in the quest for peace, there are now two contrasting schools of thought: the Asian way and the Western way, unlike in 1950 when only the Western way was possible. The world that Korea faced in 1950 was Western-dominated.
Then, to Korea’s west, the Chinese Communist Party was less than a year in power and still nearly three decades away from its decisive reformative opening up that has transformed China since 1978. To Korea’s east, Japan was still under military occupation. To its south, Taiwan was under martial law, and the Kuomintang had just retreated from Mainland China. And, further south, of today’s 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, only four were independent then. The Western way is the old European balance of power framework, developed in the post-Napoleonic era and involved during the ideological struggles of the Cold War. The Western way made Europe one of the most militarized regions in the world and arguably has brought about the war in Ukraine.
Fifty years after the Korean Armistice Agreement and 20 years ago from today, in 2003, during the ASEAN-China Summit in Bali, Indonesia, a joint declaration on the strategic partnership for peace and prosperity was signed. That demonstrates the Asian way; expanding economic and diplomatic ties while quietly managing these fields through dialogue and consensus building. Thus today, there exists enough, long-established diplomatic dialogue in our part of the world that makes it possible to view the tensions in the global order not exclusively from Western eyes and Western media, but also through the balanced perspective of Asian eyes and Asian media. Therefore, this time around, the prospects for preserving peace in the region might be brighter than they were in 1950. I commend UPF for this contribution to the Asian way, the way of dialogue to advance world peace.
Thank you.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.