[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 160 (Thursday, November 13, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2365-E2366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO LEADERS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. PETER T. KING

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 13, 1997

  Mr. KING. Mr. Speaker, last month the ruler of Communist China, Jiang 
Zemin, was welcomed to Washington by President Clinton. During his 
visit to the United States, Jiang was defiant in his defense of 
Communist China's appalling record on human rights and its violations 
of non-proliferation agreements.
  In the aftermath of Jiang's visit, I was interested to read the 
article that appeared on the front page of The Washington Post on 
November 8, 1997 relating to the democratically elected government of 
the Republic of China on Taiwan. Having met President Lee Teng-hui, I 
know of his deep commitment to democratic values and respect for human 
rights. The contrast between these two leaders could not be greater and 
I commend this informative article to the attention of my colleagues.

          Leader Asserts Taiwan Is ``Independent, Sovereign''

                         (By Keith B. Richburg)

       Taipei, Taiwan, Nov. 7.--Facing pressure to renew high-
     level talks with China, President Lee Teng-hui of Taiwan has 
     taken a defiant stand, ruling out concessions to Beijing and 
     stating bluntly that Taiwan ``is an independent and sovereign 
     country.''
       In an interview at the presidential palace Thursday, Lee 
     made it clear he is in no hurry to see Taiwan reunify with 
     China--not until China ``becomes free, democratic and has 
     social justice.'' He said most Taiwanese prefer the status 
     quo and do not consider Taiwan to be a province of China, as 
     Beijing contends.
       Lee repeated an offer made in his inaugural address last 
     year to travel to China for a meeting with Chinese President 
     Jiang Zemin. But he seemed to add a condition: He would go, 
     he said, only if he were allowed to speak freely to average 
     Chinese about Taiwan's experience with democracy.
       ``I'd like to talk to the people. I'd like to make a 
     speech,'' he said. ``I'd like to speak to young university 
     students.''
       The hour-long interview provided Lee's first detailed 
     comments to an American newspaper since Jiang and President 
     Clinton met last week in Washington. Lee said he is not 
     worried that the new ``strategic partnership'' between 
     Washington and Beijing will jeopardize Taiwan's interests or 
     change the island-state's security relationship with the 
     United States.
       ``Taiwan is a symbol of American idealism,'' Lee said. 
     ``Freedom, democracy and human rights--Taiwan is a symbol.''
       In the interview and 11 pages of answers to written 
     questions, Lee touched on a variety of topics, from concerns 
     over Taiwanese business growing too dependent on investments 
     in China to confidence that Taiwan will weather the turmoil 
     afflicting East Asian economies. He said it is premature for 
     Taiwan to lift its ban on direct shipping and air links with 
     china. And he said his ruling Nationalist Party ``never 
     offered funds, nor has it ever participated in fund-
     raising activities'' to help American political parties in 
     recent elections.
       Lee also weighed in on the debate over whether ``Asian 
     values'' or Western-style liberal democracy is more suited to 
     Asian countries developing their political systems. Lee said 
     the talk of Asian having different values from Westerners is 
     ``nonsense.''

[[Page E2366]]

       ``Human beings are human beings,'' he declared.
       But it was his comments about Taiwan as an ``independent'' 
     entity that seemed likely to draw the wrath of Chinese 
     leaders. Lee, speaking in heavily accented English, several 
     times referred to Taiwan as ``independent.'' When asked if he 
     really intended to use a word Beijing considers provocative, 
     he defended his characterization and repeated it.
       While this has been Taiwan's position, Lee had kept a 
     relatively low profile since his election in March 1996. Lee 
     said he has been preoccupied with domestic concerns, but he 
     showed no hesitation in speaking in clear, even blunt, tones.
       ``Taiwan is Taiwan,'' he said. ``We are an independent, 
     sovereign country.'' At another point, he said, ``Taiwan is 
     already independent. There is no need to say so. . . . Maybe 
     they want us to say the ROC [Republic of China government] is 
     a province of China. Twenty-one million people don't agree 
     that Taiwan is a province of China.''
       China repeatedly has threatened to use force against Taiwan 
     if its leaders formally declare independence. Beijing twice 
     in the last two years has staged missile tests and military 
     exercises in the narrow Taiwan Strait that separates the 
     island and China.
       Since becoming the first native Taiwanese president in 
     1988, and winning the country's first democratic election 
     last year, Lee constantly has played to the island's 
     separatist sentiment. He has sought to raise Taiwan's profile 
     and break its diplomatic isolation, while being careful not 
     to cross the delicate verbal line that would mark a formal 
     declaration of independence.
       Against that background, some analysts here were divided 
     over whether Lee's repeated use of the word ``independent'' 
     marked a shift in his rhetoric or whether he was rephrasing a 
     familiar position that the Taiwan government is a sovereign 
     entity representing all China. But most agreed that his 
     statements showed a significant hardening of his position, 
     demonstrating that for the moment he has no interest in 
     restarting talks with China.
       ``If he says we are an independent sovereign state, that 
     makes it clear we are independent and not a part of China,'' 
     said Andrew Yang, secretary general of the Chinese Council of 
     Advanced Policy Studies, a think tank.
       ``It changes a lot. People were really expecting a 
     breakthrough in cross-strait relations.
       ``He is conveying a very important message to the United 
     States and to the world--that Taiwan is not going to 
     negotiate with China on Beijing's terms; Taiwan has its own 
     agenda; and unless China accepts Taiwan's agenda, there won't 
     be any talks,'' Yang said. ``He has sent a message to Beijing 
     that he must be treated as the leader of a sovereign state.''
       He added, ``It is very clear it seems to me, that there's 
     no room to reopen the talks.''
       Another academic who follows cross-strait issues, David Auw 
     of the Institute of International Relations, predicted 
     reaction from Beijing may be muted since the Chinese leaders 
     have grown accustomed to Lee's rhetorical flirtations with 
     secessionism and may have determined that they cannot deal 
     with him.
       ``I think the mainland leadership no longer takes President 
     Lee seriously,'' Auw said. ``It's not the first time he has 
     made confusing remarks. They are starting to question the 
     ability of Lee to have a coherent mainland policy. The 
     majority of scholars and officials on the mainland I talk to 
     say they are willing to wait for the post-Lee era.''
       Auw and others said Lee may have been reacting to new 
     pressures on Taiwan to restart high-level talks, which were 
     suspended after Lee's highly publicized 1995 visit to the 
     United States to attend his college reunion. With Hong Kong's 
     so-far successful reversion to Chinese rule under an autonomy 
     formula, and with Jiang's successful visit to Washington, the 
     spotlight has shifted to Taiwan as the largest of the many 
     unresolved trouble spots between the United States and China.
       But Lee denied feeling particular pressure to restart talks 
     with China. He made it clear he intends to continue his 
     diplomatic outreach, traveling abroad and pushing to gain 
     membership for Taiwan in such international bodies as the 
     World Trade Organization.
       ``No, I don't feel anything,'' a smiling Lee said, when 
     asked if he felt under pressure. He said he sees no parallel 
     between Hong Kong's handover to China and Taiwan's case, 
     since Hong Kong was a British colony and had no say in its 
     own destiny.
       ``Taiwan in Taiwan,'' he said. ``They use this to pressure 
     [us]. But I don't feel anything. We are an independent 
     sovereign country.''
       On July 1, in the first hours after Hong Kong reverted to 
     Chinese rule, Chinese Premier Li Peng said Taiwan should 
     consider rejoining China under the same formula, known as 
     ``one country, two systems.''
       But Lee, in the interview, was dismissive. ``They say, `one 
     country, two systems,' I say your system is a Communist 
     system. Taiwan is a free and democratic society. You say 
     Taiwan is a provincial government. I don't think so,'' Lee 
     said.
       Asked if Taiwan is prepared to make any gesture to restart 
     the stalled dialogue with China, Lee replied. ``We are 
     waiting for them. We won't give anything to them.''
       He said the two sides have technical issues to resolve, 
     including smuggling and illegal immigration, which could be 
     addressed with low-level exchanges. But as for broader 
     political dialogue at a higher level, Lee replied. ``I don't 
     see any political issues now.''
       Lee also said he does not feel bound by the timetable of 
     Beijing's leaders, particularly Jiang, who would like to see 
     the ``Taiwan problem'' resolved within the next decade. ``We 
     don't care about this timetable,'' Lee said. ``That's his 
     timetable. Here, it's a democratic society. What do the 
     people think about this problem? We have our own 
     reunification timeable. When China becomes free, democratic 
     and has social justice--in that case, we will have 
     unification.''
       For all his defiance, though Lee did express concern over a 
     problem that could end up forcing Taiwan's integration with 
     China faster than political leaders on either side of the 
     strait can control: the rush by Taiwan businessmen to invest 
     in the world's fastest-growing economy, and its largest 
     market.
       Even as Taiwan drifts further from China culturally, 
     socially and politically economic relations are seeing an 
     unmistakable convergence, similar to the kind of convergence 
     that linked Hong Kong to southern China long before the 
     actual transfer of sovereignty this year. And in Taiwan's 
     case, the economic integration is even more dramatic, 
     considering that Taiwan only lifted its travel ban on 
     citizens going to China in 1987, and the two sides are still 
     technically in a state of hostilities.
       According to government figures 16.5 percent of Taiwan's 
     exports go to China, making China the second-largest export 
     market for Taiwanese goods and its largest foreign investment 
     market. Between 1991 and 1996, the sum of Taiwanese 
     investment in China rose to $14.9 billion about what the 
     United States and Japan invest there.
       But much of the Taiwanese investment in China goes through 
     Hong Kong and Macau and is unaccounted for, leading some 
     academics to estimate its true size as closer to $30 billion.
       Lee, in a written answer to a question on the investment 
     problem, said ``excessive investment by Taiwan-based 
     businesses there [in China] may increase the political and 
     economic risks for Taiwan as a whole.''
       He said China pursues a long-standing ``economic united 
     front tactic,'' meaning Beijing is trying to ``gradually 
     increase Taiwan's economic independence on the mainland, and 
     to undermine Taiwan's political bargaining position.'' Lee 
     said China has ``stepped up its economic united front 
     tactics'' since its missile tests and military exercises 
     failed to intimidate Taiwan last year.
       Lee became most animated near the end of the interview, 
     when dealing with the question of ``Asian values'' as 
     espoused by some regional leaders, including Malaysian Prime 
     Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung 
     Cheehwa and Singapore's founder and elder statesman, Lee Kuan 
     Yew.
       Those leaders, and other proponents of the ``Asian values'' 
     theory, have suggested that Western-style democratic systems, 
     with their emphasis on individual liberties, are unsuited for 
     Asian countries that value consensus, community and solving 
     problems without confrontation. Critics have said the ``Asian 
     values'' proponents merely are offering excuses for 
     authoritarian government.
       Lee, who oversaw Taiwan's ``quiet revolution'' from 
     authoritarianism to free-wheeling democracy, dismissed the 
     idea that democracy is unsuited to Asia. ``Asian people are 
     people, are human beings,'' he said. ``They have their 
     culture and heritage and tradition--that's different. But you 
     can't say human nature is different.''

     

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