[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 30 (Thursday, March 7, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H1971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CALLING ON THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO CONDUCT ITS RELATIONS WITH 
                        TAIWAN BY PEACEFUL MEANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Cox] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COX of California. Madam Speaker, just in reply to the remarks of 
my colleague from Colorado I have to say I agree completely, that women 
have been leaders in every field of human endeavor, including 
conservative politics, and for that reason there are women all over 
America who cheerfully disagree with the gentlewoman from Colorado on 
many subjects.
  Let me talk about something that I think all of us here in the House 
can agree with, and that is the importance of a united U.S. foreign 
policy in Asia at this moment.
  In just 2 weeks Taiwan will have its first direct presidential 
election, the first fully free and democratic election of a head of 
state in nearly 5,000 years, in 4,700 years, of Chinese civilization. 
This is a remarkable achievement, and Americans should be enormously 
proud of Taiwan's democracy. The thriving democracy on Taiwan stands in 
marked contrast to the continuation of communism across the Taiwan 
Strait and the People's Republic of China.

  Madam Speaker, Taiwan is America's seventh largest trading partner. 
The People's Republic of China is the sixth largest trading partner of 
America, and yet the People's Republic of China has 250 times the 
territory of Taiwan, it has 60 times its population. Consider then that 
Taiwan, and its people, and its economy actually buy more goods and 
services from America than does the People's Republic of China. The 
People's Republic of China is our sixth largest trading partner as 
compared to Taiwan, our seventh, only because they have an enormous 
trade deficit, in fact the largest in the world, with us.
  We have, from a trade standpoint, a very strong interest in being 
friendly to both the People's Republic of China and to Taiwan. But 
because the Communist government in Beijing believes that democracy on 
Taiwan threatens its continued existence, they have been intimidating, 
through military brut force, the voters on Taiwan.
  Today the People's Republic of China began launching missiles over 
the Taiwan Strait. It will do so, we are told, for 8 days, between now 
and March 15, in particular in 2 target areas 20 miles east of Keeling, 
a port city in the northeastern part of Taiwan, and 30 miles west of 
Kaohsiung, a port city in the southwestern part of Taiwan.
  I want to underscore as we meet here tonight that Communist China has 
already begun firing these missiles.
  Over 70 percent of commercial shipping enters Taiwan through these 
two port cities that I mentioned. Already military actions undertaken 
by the Communist government in Beijing have amounted effectively to a 
partial blockade of Taiwan. They have disrupted already commercial 
shipping in the Taiwan Strait. They have even disrupted airline traffic 
which has had to be rerouted around the island.
  This is not the first time in the runup to these elections that 
Communist China has sought to intimidate freedom and democracy in 
Taiwan. The People's Republic of China has conducted large scale 
military maneuvers to intimidate Taiwan before its legislative 
elections in December. The latest round of intimidation, just recently, 
includes amassing 150,000 Chinese troops and 220 fighter aircraft just 
miles from Taiwan. And China, when the People's Republic of China 
sought to intimidate voters as they went to legislative elections, they 
fired nuclear capable missiles about 100 miles north of Taiwan last 
July.
  The People's Republic of China has officially and unofficially told 
the United States that they have developed plans for a 30-day missile 
attack of Taiwan. People's Republic of China officials told former 
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia, Chas Freeman, that they have 
developed such plans. They told a Stanford scholar, John Lewis, who is 
close our Defense Secretary Perry, that they have developed plans for a 
sustained 30-day missile assault on Taiwan. These same military leaders 
have even made a thinly veiled threat against the United States, 
communicating again with Chas Freeman, that they might attack the 
United State with nuclear weapons should we concern ourselves with the 
preservation of democracy and freedom on Taiwan in the face of a 
Communist Chinese military assault.
  Madam Speaker, it is outrageous that Communist China is planning and 
threatening a military invasion of Taiwan. Nothing in law or nature 
gives the communists the right to launch a military attack on millions 
of innocent civilians there. It is doubly outrageous that they are 
doing so to intimidate democracy, and for this reason today a 
bipartisan group of House Members has introduced a resolution. It is 
numbered House Concurrent Resolution 148.
  I just note that it is House Concurrent Resolution 148, sponsored by 
every Member of the House leadership and bipartisan leaders, 
particularly of the Human Rights Caucus, the Democratic and Republican 
membership of the House of Representatives, and I urge all of my 
colleagues to sponsor this very important resolution.

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