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."