[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 136 (Tuesday, September 5, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12621-S12622]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                            BULLYING TAIWAN

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, recently, the New York Times had an 
editorial titled, ``Bullying Taiwan,'' which appeared while Congress 
was not in session.
  It comments on what is taking place in China and that country's 
irresponsible conduct toward Taiwan.
  For years before the United States recognized the People's Republic 
of China, I had favored dual recognition, as we did with East Germany 
and West Germany.
  But for reasons I understand, in part to keep China on an anti-Soviet 
course, the United States continued to follow a one China policy. It 
was wrong before, and it is wrong now.
  As the editorial points out, Taiwan has been under Beijing's rule 
only 4 years in the last century.
  I ask that the New York Times editorial be printed in the Record at 
this point, and I urge my colleagues to read it, if they have not 
already.
  The editorial follows:

                            Bullying Taiwan

       China has embarked on an escalating campaign of military 
     maneuvers meant to intimidate Taiwan and undermine its 
     President, Lee Teng-hui. Washington, as much as it wants to 
     calm troubled relations with Beijing, must firmly signal its 
     opposition to this campaign. Ties with China cannot be built 
     on tolerance for provocative displays of military force and 
     efforts to destabilize Taiwan.
       Last week China began its second missile exercise this 
     summer in the waters surrounding Taiwan. More are planned in 
     the weeks ahead, timed to coincide with the campaign to 
     choose Taiwan's first democratically elected President next 
     March.
       Mr. Lee, who led Taiwan from dictatorship to democracy 
     after coming to power as the handpicked successor of Chiang 
     Kai-shek and his son, is now the front-runner in that 
     election. But Beijing hopes its military muscle can frighten 
     Taiwan into choosing someone more malleable.
       Mr. Lee has drawn China's ire by a series by personal 
     visits abroad, most prominently a May trip to attend his 
     college reunion in the United States. Beijing is upset 
     because these actions challenge its contention that Taiwan is 
     an integral part of China and that any separate political 
     identity for Taiwan diminishes China's sovereignty.
       This ``one-China policy'' had its origins in 1949, when 
     Chiang moved the seat of his defeated Government to Taiwan. 
     From then on, Chiang in Taipei and Mao Zedong in Beijing each 
     insisted his own regime was the legitimate government of 
     China, with authority over both the mainland and Taiwan.
       When it recognized Chiang, the United States found the one-
     China formula convenient. When America switched recognition 
     to the Communists in 1979, Beijing insisted that Washington 
     continue to honor the point. The United States therefore has 
     no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
       For Beijing, the one-China concept has been the cornerstone 
     of normalized relations with Washington. Tampering with it 
     would throw the entire relationship into turnoil. Yet 
     continued Chinese military provocations could force the 
     United States to re-evaluate its position.
       While diplomatically convenient, the formula has never 
     corresponded very closely to realty. While most of Taiwan's 
     people are descended from Chinese who migrated there several 
     centuries ago, the island, 100 miles off the Chinese coast, 
     has been under Beijing's direct rule for only four years in 
     the last century.
  Today Taiwan, with 21 million people, is a prosperous democracy and 
America's seventh-largest trading partner. Though its businessmen have 
strong economic ties with the mainland, few of its citizens want to 
come under the rule of the harsh Communist regime in Beijing. But most 
Taiwanese also believe it would be a fatal mistake for Taiwan to 
provoke China by pushing too hard for the diplomatic trappings of 
independence.
  China is trying to intimidate Taiwan into reining in its diplomacy. 
It is also trying to warn outside powers against 

[[Page S 12622]]
granting visas to Taiwanese political leaders. That China should be 
pressing these positions is not surprising. That it should do so by 
military means, and in the process undermine political stability in 
Taiwan, is disturbing and cannot be ignored.

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