[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 89 (Wednesday, July 8, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S7704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE PEOPLE OF TAIWAN

  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, yesterday the majority leader of the 
Senate, Senator Lott, the senior Senator from New Jersey, Mr. 
Torricelli, and a number of other Senators, myself included, introduced 
a resolution reaffirming our commitment to the right of self-
determination on the part of the people of the Republic of China on 
Taiwan. We did so in shock at the seeming abandonment of those people 
by the President of the United States on his trip to mainland China. 
The resolution was referred to the Foreign Relations Committee, and I 
hope will be reported back favorably and promptly for debate and 
passage by the Senate of the United States.
  For decades it has been the policy of the United States to call for 
all of the relationships between the people and government on Taiwan 
and the People's Republic of China to be peaceful. It has been our 
policy that the people of Taiwan should be permitted to determine their 
own future, much of which has now been undercut by President Clinton's 
overwhelming desire for approval on the part of a still Communist 
dictatorship in mainland China.
  In fact, Mr. President, on his trip to China and in the policies 
immediately preceding that trip, the President of the United States has 
managed to impose sanctions on the world's most populous democracy, 
India, for its natural reaction to our assistance to the missile 
capabilities of the People's Republic of China; has managed to impose 
sanctions on Pakistan which is greatly harmful to the economy of the 
United States because of Pakistan's natural reaction to India's nuclear 
test; has insulted and weakened the people of Japan, a long-time and 
vitally important democratic ally of the United States, by a refusal to 
visit Japan on this trip to East Asia; and has undercut one of the most 
vital democracies anywhere in the world, and particularly East Asia on 
Taiwan.
  As the Washington Post's editors wrote on July 2, and I quote:

       Mr. Clinton has sided with the dictators against the 
     democrats.

  It seems vital to me that we should reaffirm our commitment to the 
rights of self-determination on the part of the people of Taiwan, and 
encourage them on the successful path they have now traveled for almost 
half a century.
  Mr. President, at the end of the Chinese civil war, when the 
nationalists were left only with an outpost on Taiwan, a group of 
Chinese began a separate existence with almost no promise of a bright 
future, poverty stricken on an island that had just emerged from half a 
century of Japanese imperialism, threatened by the overwhelming armed 
force of mainland China, without natural resources, with nothing to 
sustain them but the brilliance and dedication and the hard-working 
nature of the Chinese people on Taiwan, and an absolute commitment to 
their own freedom.
  They have been perhaps the most successful example of what can happen 
to a people who are dedicated to the ideals that have moved the United 
States since its founding.
  On Taiwan, the Chinese people first created a magnificently 
successful economy--an economy so successful that to this day they 
purchase more American goods and services than does all of mainland 
China, and following immediately upon that economic success the 
creation of a life and vibrant democratic system of government. Where 
under such threat in the entire world do we see anything remotely 
similar? Perhaps in Israel, perhaps in Israel under a similar threat 
from the outside, but I think, Mr. President, nowhere else in the world 
have we seen such a magnificent success in the building of a free and 
successful economy and a free and successful democracy.
  It seems to me, Mr. President, that it should be our policy in the 
future that we laud and support that degree of success, that we 
encourage the Chinese on the mainland to follow that example rather 
than impliedly tell the people in Taiwan they must follow the example 
of the mainland.

  We as Americans simply cannot abandon those free people on Taiwan. We 
must clearly indicate to mainland China that it cannot attempt to solve 
its differences with them by the use of force. We must clearly indicate 
to mainland China that the people of Taiwan must be in charge of 
determining their own future. We can, of course, hope for one China, 
but a one China that has institutions and is created in a fashion that 
respects the views, the desire for continued freedom, on the part of 
the people of Taiwan.
  How it is that we have managed because of deterioration in our 
relationship with four democratic nations in east and south Asia 
without gaining anything of substance, of any real substance in our 
relationship with China, is beyond my power to explain. But at this 
point a mild resolution totally consistent with the Taiwan Relations 
Act passed by this Senate, reaffirming our support for the freedom and 
rights of self-determination of the people of Taiwan, is, I believe, 
the minimum we can do to make up for the disastrous remarks of 
President Clinton on his trip to China.
  I repeat, I hope that the Foreign Relations Committee will report 
this bipartisan resolution promptly, that it will be passed by both the 
Senate and the House of Representatives. Only in that fashion can we 
show our dedication for the cause of a country that has followed our 
leadership, adopted our ideals, and deserves our support.

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