ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ Ａｔｔｅｎｄｅｄ ６ｔｈ Ａｓｉａ ａｎｄ Ｅｕｒｏｐｅ Ｐｅｏｐｌｅ’ｓ Ｆｏｒｕｍ

Ma Hairong and Ba Cuicui of the CPAFFC attended the 6th Asia and Europe People’s Forum held at Helsinki， Finland from September 3 to 6， 2006. The Forum， which is a coordinate activity of the Asia Europe Meeting， serves as a platform for the NGOs of the Asian and European countries to exchange ideas and pass on to the governments the public opinion so as to urge them to pay attention to and solve the problems of common concern. Since the opening of the first Forum in Bangkok， Thailand in 1996， it has been held every two years. More than 440 participants from over 30 countries attended the Forum. The theme of this year’s Forum is to build solidarity of the Asian and European people. Following the Forum， the Asia Europe Meeting was held at the same city where Premier Wen Jiabao attended and made a speech.

The Sixth Forum has three topics for discussion—peace and security， economic security and social rights， democracy and human rights， one topic for one day. There are 14 workshops specialized on disarmament， debts， free trade， environmental protection， women and children’s rights， immigration， democracy and decentralization， labor and social justice， etc. It also set up for the first time an “open space” for the international delegations to introduce themselves and express their views fully.

The issues of energy and economic globalization were highlighted in the Forum. Ms. Kaisa Kosonen from Finland Greenpeace Organization pointed out at her speech that energy consumption in the world is very uneven with 1/5 of world’s population consuming 58% of all energy produced and the poorest 1/5 consuming less than 4%. With the increasing world demand for energy， the negative impacts of the current energy structure， which is based on fossil fuels， have become even more apparent. It not only caused many problems such as climate change， acid rain and epidemics but also is unable to satisfy the ever-increasing demand for energy. Real energy security should be based on renewable energy and energy efficiency. The Forum calls on the international community to accelerate legislation and push the government to take necessary measures to build a sustainable energy system.

On the issue of globalization， many participants from medium and small countries held that although globalization， with political leaders and multinational corporations as its major driving forces， has some positive significance， it leads to the widening of social gap and marginalization of the poor who lose their jobs and dignity. Some European participants called globalization “neo-liberalism”， believing that the failure of adoption of EU Constitution is a manifestation of European people’s worry and rejection of neo-liberalism.

Due to China’s 30 years of rapid development and growth of strength， China was a hot topic at the Forum. When the discussion came to economic security， Mr. Surin Pitsuwan， former foreign minister of Thailand spoke highly of China’s contribution to Asia’s economic development. He said that China’s refusal to devalue its currency during the Asian financial crisis proved to the world the important role of the socialist country played in safeguarding regional stability. Asian countries became more united after that crisis， thanks to China’s contribution.

The Chinese participants got the opportunities to speak at four workshops and the “open space”. The representatives of the CPAFFC well coordinated with those from the China UN Association， the China Society for Human Right Studies， the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture and the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament and took the chance of QA periods to voice opinions and clarify misunderstanding about China. At the “environmental security” workshop， Ma Hairong， by quoting detailed statistics， told the audience that China is not only a country of huge energy consumption but at the same time， also a big energy producer. China’s import of oil accounts for only 5.5% of the world’s total export， while the figure of Japan’s reaching 10% and U.S.’s 25%. The per capita energy consumption in China is only half of the world average. The delegates from the Chinese Foundation for Environmental Protection introduced to the audience that Chinese government has given energy efficiency a top priority in its 11th Five Year Plan， which helped the audience to have a better understanding of China’s environmental protection.

At the workshop of “Democracy and Decentralization”， delegates from the China Society for Human Right Studies briefed about China’s basic-level democracy and village election. Ma Hairong discussed with the participants about democracy models， pointing out that it is impossible to find an ideal model which suits all countries in the world with different histories， cultures and stages of development. At the “open space” we briefed on what Chinese NGOs have done in the past years to push forward the implementation of “UN Millennium Development Goals” in China. The CPAFFC delegates also talked about the CPAFFC’s cooperation in recent years with big companies in supporting education for relieving poverty and promoting development of the western region. At intervals of the meetings they distributed brochures about CPAFFC and Voice of Friendship and mixed up with delegates from all countries to make more acquaintances and friends.

According to usual practice， the next Forum will be held in an Asian country. Now the Chinese government has promised to host the next Asia and Europe Meeting and， therefore， the next Asia Europe People’s Forum is most likely to be held in a Chinese city.