Peace-through-Strength Urged in Britain’s House of Commons

Mr. Kook Jin Moon, chairman of the Tongil Foundation

Mr. Moon brought his national-security thinkers’ conference to London July 2, 2012, to address issues such as the global threat posed by China, the value of weapons and the re-balancing of the Universal Peace Federation’s philosophy to include the notion of “peace through strength” among parliamentarians and defense experts in Europe on July 2, 2012.

Prior to a session in the House of Commons Chairman Moon lunched with a select group of parliamentarians and strategic- and defense experts in the prestigious and secluded surroundings of the "Barry Room," one of London’s most select dining locations, frequented by government ministers, former prime ministers and their guests.

Attendees at the luncheon included Baroness Verma, the government "Equalities" Spokesperson who welcomed Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, or “True Mother,” to Parliament prior to her speech there in May 2011; Lord Ahmed, Britain's first Moslem member of the upper house; Andrew Nevin, Senior International Strategist at leading international accountancy firm Price Waterhouse Coopers, who was voted "financial strategist of the year" in 2011 and was also a contemporary of Chairman Moon at Harvard; two of Europe's highest defense experts – Dr. Wim Van Eekelen, Former Dutch Defense Minister and Secretary-General of The Western European Union and Dr. Werner Fasslabend, Former Austrian Defense Minister and now Head of the leading Austrian Think Tank on defense matters. As the meal progressed, Chairman Moon was able to engage in discussions on a range of issues, including the economic situation of China, the way China is viewed on the Indian Sub-Continent and European views of the balance of power in North East Asia.

Other key guests included Professor Bhupendra Jasani, a professor at Kings College, ; Lord King, UPF's “Patron” in the U.K.; and Mr. Virendra Sharma, the member of Parliament who was hosting the session at which Chairman Moon was to speak later.

At 3:30 p.m., , a panel of international experts welcomed Chairman Moon to the House of Commons. Several offered presentations that were rooted in their expertise, revealing great differences in perception towards peace and security in North East Asia and in particular the role of China.

The audience was welcomed by Mr. Virendra Sharma, a member of the parliamentary Select Committees on Health, Human Rights and International Development, who expressed his appreciation to UPF for this opportunity to advance efforts for world peace. Lord King of West Bromwich, UPF-UK patron, expressed his delight to Chairman Moon and commended UPF activists for their sincerity in working for world peace.

Dr. Thomas Walsh, President of UPF International, introduced the panel, remarking that while UPF is renowned for its advocacy of soft power initiatives and people-to-people activities, peace may also be sustained by strength, and thus UPF has been supportive of Chairman Moon’s advocacy of a “Strong Korea” policy.

Dr. Willem Frederik Van Eekelen, former Minister of Defense and Deputy Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, gave an overview of the Asia region, referring to the “lack of mortar between the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations” in the sense of the tensions between China, India and Russia that affect the Asia region. Dr. Van Eekelen argued that while there is concern regarding China’s modernization of military forces and rising geopolitical influence, referred to as “The String of Pearls,” (extending from the South China Sea across the Indian Ocean, and on to the Persian Gulf), China’s ambitions and actions are moderated by the need to maintain its ever growing economic- and trading interdependence with the rest of the world. He encouraged attempts increasingly to involve China in international cooperation, but acknowledged that effective cooperation had been very limited. He suggested that observers not underestimate the internal troubles that China faces in respect of the tension between a rising middle class and an authoritarian government.

Dr. Werner Fasslabend, the longest serving minister of defence (1990-2000) in the history of Austria and current president of the Austrian Institute for European Security Policy (AIES) surveyed global arks of low stability or crisis and potential crossing points of conflicting interests, identifying the South China Sea as “a very interesting area about which there is not so much understanding.” According to Dr. Fasslabend, a point of great concern is not only China’s enormous increase of military expenditure, especially in systems that can be used offensively, but also its obvious projection of power in respect to Taiwan and the South China Sea. Almost daily incidents in the area are contrary to the official harmonious policy of China and reveal a highly aggressive expression of a long-term strategy that underplays each individual incident but is in fact a permanent provocation towards neighboring nations in the region. China seeks by this strategy to keep these incidents bi-lateral and to exert its full political- and economic muscle on individual nations to intimidate them with the intention to gain the whole South China Sea. Dr Fasslabend said he was reminded of Europe before World War II and urged the Free World to develop a combined and comprehensive strategy to address what he regards as “probably the most important security matter for the 21st century.”

Humphrey Hawksley, a leading BBC foreign correspondent, author and commentator on world affairs, spoke in his capacity as an expert on the region. He had visited North Korea with Antonio Betancourt's support in 1995 and attended an International Leadership Conference in Korea in 1997. While agreeing with Dr. Fasslabend’s scenario, he had hope for another solution:encouraging stability that springs from the experience of growing prosperity in the region and expectation that nations will resolve their own issues. He recognized that Western interventionism had proven ineffective in the Middle East, that the USA is very world weary, and Europe increasingly unable to deal with her own economic realities.

Prof. Bhupendra Jasani, tenured at King’s College London, Department of War Studies and a specialist in nuclear disarmament issues and the militarization of space, stated that “We do need to be watchful of China’s very rapid progress in these areas.” He particularly mentioned China’s denial of serious violations of international agreements in relation to the proven transfer of nuclear weapons capacity to Pakistan and a total recklessness in blowing up its own satellite by way of testing missile accuracy, resulting in a huge quantity of very dangerous space debris.

Kook Jin Moon concluded the session with a combination of statistics and suggested strategies, and urged that immediate attention is needed to balance the threat of China, a strategy known in the United States as “peace through strength.” His analysis of the dramatically weakened economic capacity of the USA and Europe, combined with U.S. public opinion obsessed with domestic problems painted a picture which fascinated the experts on the panel.

Chairman Moon re-assessed the rate at which China is growing militarily in comparison to the USA, considering China’s focus on the Asia region compared with America’s global commitments and taking into account purchasing power parity and the constant cuts to US military spending. Insights regarding issues of asymmetric power and the poor performance of supposedly high-tech weapons revealed that, in fact, South Korea’s assumed military superiority towards North Korea is very uncertain. At the same time, Chairman Moon revealed that the characterization of China as a “peaceful giant” is belied by the evidence of 2,000 years of Asian history.

Chairman Moon concluded by explaining that the real problem that increases the threat of war is disparity –when one nation is overwhelmingly strong, the potential for war is great. South Korea, therefore, needs to consider the example of Switzerland or Israel and to make itself strong, such that China would hesitate to become militarily aggressive. This will greatly reduce the risk of war. Finally Chairman Moon urged the creation of an alliance of free democratic nations to protect world peace.

Already over lunch Dr. Fasslabend had expressed his strong agreement with Kook Jin Moon’s concerns and Humphrey Hawksley declared after Chairman Moon’s speech how he was impressed by the message, commenting, “Everyone thinks that South Korea is very strong, but Dr. Moon’s presentation has caused me to seriously review that assumption.”

According to Tim Miller, vice president of the European region for the Unification Church, “We were all struck by Kook Jin Moon’s capacity to express core truths with great simplicity and his practical approach to the application of the Original Divine Principle towards the realization of Cheon Il Guk . We were reminded of True Father’s heroic stand against communism and outspoken support for Ronald Reagan as now Kook Jin Moon speaks out for a Strong Korea and warns that Abel must be strong. As Kook Jin Moon reminded us of the blindness of the Abel nations of Europe as they allowed Nazi Germany to build its military strength to the point that it felt confident to dominate the rest of the continent, we were called to an awareness of the need for free nations to gather around God’s Homeland, Korea, and to preserve liberty in the Pacific Rim Region, just as True Father declared in 2007.

“Kook Jin constantly made us aware that God did not intervene at the time of the Fall and that even in this Second Advent time, when True Parents’ victory will inevitably realize Cheon Il Guk, individuals and nations are free to choose, but must also bear the consequences of their choices. The bloodshed of the previous world wars should not come again! We must be more vigilant and alert opinion leaders here in Europe.

“The Freedom Society presentation and Kook Jin Moon’s very straight forward style made us all reconsider many attitudes that prevail in European society which lead to the growth of a society dependent on welfare and spending far beyond its means. As we in Europe stand in the grip of a terrible financial crisis, we realize that our carelessness in the face of governments and institutions who pandered to our desire for material well-being without diligence and hard work has placed us in danger of becoming increasingly self-centered and weak at a time when God needs Europe to stand strong for faith and freedom.

“Thank you True Parents and thank you Kook Jin Moon - we will do our best to develop the seeds you have sown and to play our role in reforming our society towards freedom with responsibility.”

By Tim Miller and Ariana Moon