Conference analyzes constitutional forms in new democracies

This article was written by Rita Fang and published by the Taiwan Journal on November 4, 2005. It features the "International Conference on Constitutional Reengineering in New Democracies: Taiwan and the World" recently held in Taipei, in which constitutional scholars from the United States, Canada, Hungary and Taiwan presented papers on the themes of national identity, constitutional culture, human rights and the choice of a government system.

The conference was sponsored by the Office of the President's Constitutional Reform Promotion Panel.

At the conference there was also the "Exhibition of Constitutional Archives", which consisted of archival documents and an accompanying online presentation on the development of the Republic of China's Constitution. The exhibition visited southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung City and central Taiwan's Taichung City prior to the conference. One of the most important documents on display was the former surrender agreement signed in 1945 following Japan's defeat in the Second World War, after which Taiwan, which had been a colony of Japan, was returned to the Republic of China's territory.