Ten member countries participating in this year’s Asia-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union (APPU) general assembly have signed a joint communique in Taipei.
At the APPU’s closing ceremony on Wednesday, 10 of the 12 members present signed the joint communique on regional cooperation for disaster prevention and mitigation. However, Malaysia and Mongolia did not sign the document. It is widely believed that pressure from China was the reason why the two countries did not endorse the document.
The APPU was established in Tokyo in 1965 and aims to promote freedom and democracy. The union now has 21 member nations.