[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 48 (Wednesday, March 15, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3993-S3994]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     THE WELCOME AND THE UNWELCOME

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, yesterday my colleague Senator 
Murkowski and I rose to speak about the U.S. Government's shameful 
treatment of the democratically-elected leader of loyal friend of the 
United States. We were speaking of President Lee Teng-hui of Taiwan, 
who has been informed that, despite an invitation, he will not be 
admitted to the U.S. to attend his class reunion at Cornell this June. 
To admit President Lee, we are told, could jeopardize important 
interests we have in a key bilateral relationship, our relationship 
with China.
  Sometimes, though, the U.S. is prepared to run such risks. Despite 
strong objections from the United Kingdom, our longstanding ally, we 
have admitted Gerry Adams, the leader of the Sinn Fein, to our country. 
Indeed, Mr. Adams is receiving a level of attention that a head of 
state might envy; he will even be welcomed to the White House on St. 
Patrick's Day.
  I recognize the need to take risks for peace sometimes; the 
possibility of a fair and lasting solution in Northern Ireland may be 
worth taking a few chances for. But shouldn't we also be willing to 
take a few chances for Taiwan, a country that, in its adoption of 
democratic principles and its commitment to free market economics, can 
serve a model to many other countries in Asia? Other countries 
including, I would stress, China itself.
  An editorial in today's Wall Street Journal does a particularly good 
job of highlighting the inconsistency between the welcome the U.S. 
extends to Mr. 
 [[Page S3994]] Adams, and the insulting brush off we give President 
Lee. I ask that the editorial ``Two Visitors'' be printed in the 
Record.
  The editorial follows:
                    Review and Outlook--Two Visitors

       Gerry Adams can tour the United States, but Lee Teng-hui 
     can't. Gerry Adams will be feted and celebrated Friday at the 
     White House, but when Lee Teng-hui's plane landed in Honolulu 
     last year, the U.S. government told him to gas up and get 
     out. The Gerry Adams who is being treated like a head of 
     state by the Clinton Administration is the leader of Sinn 
     Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army. The Lee 
     Teng-hui who has been treated like an international pariah by 
     the Administration is the democratically elected President of 
     the Republic of China, or Taiwan. The disparate treatment of 
     these two men tells an awful lot about the politics and 
     instincts of the Clinton presidency.
       Gerry Adams's face will be all over the news for his Saint 
     Paddy's Day party with Bill O'Clinton at the White House, so 
     we'll start with the background on the less-publicized 
     President of Taiwan.
       Cornell University has invited President Lee to come to the 
     school's Ithaca, N.Y., campus this June to address and attend 
     an alumni reunion. In 1968, Mr. Lee received his doctorate in 
     agricultural economics from Cornell. The following year, the 
     American Association of Agricultural Economics gave Mr. Lee's 
     doctoral dissertation, on the sources of Taiwan's growth, its 
     highest honor. In 1990, Taiwan's voters freely elected Mr. 
     Lee as their President. He has moved forcefully to liberalize 
     Taiwan's political system, arresting corrupt members of his 
     own party. Last year, The Asian Wall Street Journal 
     editorialized: ``Out of nothing, Taiwan's people have created 
     an economic superpower relative to its population, as well as 
     Asia's most rambunctious democracy and a model for neighbors 
     who are bent on shedding authoritarian ways.''
       Asked last month about President Lee's visit to Ithaca, 
     Secretary of State Christopher, who professes to wanting 
     closer links with Taiwan, said that ``under the present 
     circumstances'' he couldn't see it happening. The 
     Administration doesn't want to rile its relationship with 
     Beijing. The Communist Chinese don't recognize Taiwan and 
     threaten all manner of retaliation against anyone who even 
     thinks about doing so. That includes a speech to agricultural 
     economists in upstate New York. This, Secretary
      Christopher testified, is a ``difficult issue.''
       Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams, meanwhile, gets the red carpet 
     treatment at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Mr. Adams assures his 
     American audiences that the IRA is out of the business of 
     blowing body parts across the streets of London. He promises 
     the doubters that if people give him money, it won't be used 
     to buy more guns, bullets and bombs for the high-strung lads 
     of the IRA.
       Now before the Irish American communities of Queens and 
     Boston get too roiled over our skepticism toward Northern 
     Ireland's most famous altar boy, we suggest they take their 
     grievances to John Bruton, who is Irish enough to be the 
     Prime Minister of Ireland. He, too, will be at Bill Clinton's 
     St. Patrick's Day party for Gerry Adams, and he has a message 
     for the two statesmen: The IRA has to give up its arms. 
     ``This is an item on the agenda that must be dealt with,'' 
     Premier Bruton said Monday in Dublin. ``It's a very serious 
     matter. There are genuine fears felt by members of the 
     community that have been at the receiving end of the 
     violence.''
       We don't at all doubt that somewhere amid the Friday 
     merriment, Mr. Clinton will ask Mr. Adams to give up the guns 
     and that Mr. Adams will tell the President that is surely the 
     IRA's intent, all other matters being equal.
       It is hard to know precisely what motivates Mr. Clinton to 
     lionize a Gerry Adams and snub a Lee Tenghut. The deference 
     to China doesn't fully wash, because when Britain--our former 
     ally in several huge wars this century--expressed its 
     displeasure over the Adams meeting, the White House 
     essentially told the Brits to lump it. Perhaps the end of the 
     Cold War has liberated liberal heads of state into a state of 
     light-headedness about such matters. We note also this week 
     that France's President Francois Mitterrand has been 
     entertaining Fidel Castro at the Elysees Palace.
       But it's still said that Bill Clinton has a great sense of 
     self-preservation. So if he's willing to personally embrace 
     Gerry Adams while stiffing the Prime Minister of England and 
     forbidding the President of Taiwan to spend three days with 
     his classmates in Ithaca, there must be something in it 
     somewhere for him.
     

                          ____________________