Asia agrees to work together to spread Internet use in region

Asia agrees to work together to spread Internet use in region

Yuri Kageyama, Associate Press, Tokyo

Representatives from Asian governments, businesses and grass-
roots groups vowed to wipe out inequalities in Internet growth
Wednesday, wrapping up a three-day meeting to hammer out a
regional agreement for a UN-initiated technology world summit
in December.

The Tokyo Declaration was adopted at the final session of the
Asian Regional Conference, which drew 600 people representing 48
countries, 21 international organizations, 53 businesses and more
than 100 nongovernment groups.

The regional meetings, including previous ones in Europe and
Africa, are preparing for the Dec. 10-12 World Summit on the
Information Society in Geneva, aimed at offering a global vision
for the Internet age for fighting cybercrime, protecting
copyright and setting standards while protecting freedoms,
privacy and human rights.

"High-quality access attainable through broadband has great
potential to help better deliver essential services required to
meet basic human needs," the 11-page Tokyo statement said.

Participants said widespread use of Internet technology can
reduce poverty, zap information to remote areas, boost the
quality of education and help developing nations long left out of
technological innovations.

While declaring lofty goals, the gathering did not attempt to
come up with specifics, leaving the challenge of working out a
policy agreement and action plan for the world summit.

Some critics are worried an agreement among governments to
police cyberspace or regulate information may encourage
censorship on the Net and restrict news coverage.

Robert Francis Garcia of Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult
Education in the Philippines called the Tokyo Declaration "a
compromise document" that was more about fostering economic
growth than about ensuring human rights.

"It is silent on certain security issues," he told reporters
after the meeting held at a Tokyo hotel. "It doesn't have a
mention of the issue of censorship."

Wednesday's agreement said measures against cybercrime "must
respect the sovereignty of nations and maintain respect for the
constitutional and other rights of all persons, including freedom
of expression."

Kim Hak-Su, head of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific, or ESCAP, who was a main speaker at the
conference, acknowledged more work was needed.

"The Tokyo Declaration is directional," he said. "We need more
meetings."

A clear reminder of the deep divisions in the region came on
Tuesday, when talks were delayed for several hours after China
protested the presence of Taiwan nongovernment groups as an
affront to its "one-China policy."

China claims Taiwan as its territory and says it has no right
to conduct foreign relations, which makes the self-governing
island's role in international meetings a sensitive matter.

China returned to the sessions after a backroom compromise
with Japanese organizers that allowed representatives from Taiwan
to stay as part of a Japanese nonprofit organization. It was
unclear whether China would make similar protests at the
preparatory meeting set for February in Geneva.

Representatives of nongovernment groups commended the
conference for bringing in grass-roots views but were outraged by
China's opposition to the participation of Taiwan groups,
criticizing it as unneeded government intervention.

Adam Peake of the Center for Global Communications in Tokyo
said he feared nongovernment groups' right to attend was "being
negotiated away."

"I do have the right to be heard," he said.

Officials taking part in the forum said countries must work
together to spread and develop affordable technology to bridge
the "digital divide," while maintaining cultural diversity and
encouraging poor nations to create as well as consume network
content.

"When you dream alone, it is still a dream, but when you dream
together, it is already a beginning of reality," Adama
Samassekou, who heads the preparatory committee for the summit,
said in a closing speech. "Let us then dream together."