World Freedom Day celebrations to kick off in Taipei on Saturday

The non governmental organization has been promoting democracy and human rights worldwide for more than 50 years. Following the Korean War (1950-1953), when more than 22,000 ex-communist Chinese and North Korean prisoners of war finally returned home, 14,000 Chinese soldiers decided to free themselves from communism, arriving in Keelung harbor on Jan. 23, 1954.

To mark their embrace of freedom, the government of the R.O.C declared Jan. 23 as World Freedom Day and established the “Asian Pacific Anti-Communist League” to defend against communist infiltration in Asia.

The organization later developed into the international “Anti-communist League” in 1967; which finally became the “World League for Freedom and Democracy,” in 1990 — after observing the collapse of communism in Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The WLFD and its president Yao Eng-chi (饒穎奇) will host a cocktail party today at the Grand Hotel (圓山飯店) to welcome its prestigious guests from around the world.

The next day, a convention will take place at the hotel from 9 a.m., addressing this year's conference theme “Economic Development & the Promotion of Freedom and Democracy.”

Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Yao, and Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權), president of WLFD's R.O.C Chapter and deputy speaker at the Legislative Yuan, and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will attend , whilst president of the tiny Pacific Republic of Palau, Johnson Toribiong, will give a speech on behalf of guests. The celebrations will end in the afternoon with “Forum on Freedom and Democracy.”

For more information on the World League of Freedom and Democracy and its upcoming activities, please log on to: http://www.wlfd.org/ or call (02) 3393-2002.

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