[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10107-10109]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  BIPARTISAN SENATORIAL TRIP TO JAPAN, TAIWAN, SOUTH KOREA, AND CHINA

  Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, I want to share some of my experiences 
over the last 2 weeks as part of a bipartisan delegation of Senators 
who traveled to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Upon my return 
to Minnesota last week, directly from Beijing, I never had so many 
inquiries from people meeting with me as to my health and well-being. 
Fortunately, I assured them I was not carrying SARS, which

[[Page 10108]]

is something to be taken obviously very seriously.
  The trip was led by our Senate majority leader Bill Frist, and was 
led extraordinarily well by him. I cannot say enough to reflect my 
respect and admiration for his demeanor, his leadership, his poise, and 
his presence when facing the heads of state when we had these meetings 
in China, South Korea, and Taiwan.
  We may be Republicans and Democrats, but occasionally we need to be 
reminded that at our core all of us are Americans. Ultimately, we all 
succeed or we do not succeed together, and that was certainly the 
spirit of this bipartisan delegation of five Republican Senators and 
three Democratic Senators. We got along very well. I do not think there 
was a cross word among us. We enjoyed very much the privilege of 
representing the United States of America as we did, and I believe 
under Senator Frist's leadership we did so responsibly and hopefully 
honorably.
  After careful consideration, at the end of our trip, the principal 
reason we decided to go through with our plans to go to China was the 
opportunity it presented to meet with the new Chinese leadership and 
particularly to discuss the situation concerning North Korea's nuclear 
weapons program. We certainly carefully considered and Senator Frist, 
of course, being a doctor, was in the forefront of considering very 
carefully the exposure we would have, the risks that would be entailed 
in regard to SARS. We took every possible precaution. I washed my hands 
and face more in 2 and a half days in Beijing than I usually do in 
about 2 weeks in Minnesota. So far, knock on wood, it seems to have 
been effective.
  As I said, we believed the opportunity to converse directly with the 
new President of China, President Hu Jintao, as well as the other new 
Chinese leadership, and to press upon them the urgency we felt about 
resolving the nuclear situation in North Korea was worth that trip, and 
it proved to be. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that, in fact, 
China shares our goal, as their leadership expressed several times, to 
bring about a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, and that position which 
was stated by them was corroborated by our Ambassador, Clark T. Randt, 
Jr., who apparently was a classmate of the President who appointed him, 
President Bush. Both of them, it turns out, were fraternity brothers of 
mine back in college.
  I had a chance to reminisce with him. He reassured all of us that the 
Chinese Government had been very influential in bringing North Korea to 
the negotiating table last week, the trilateral talks that commenced in 
Beijing. They could have been more timely but at least they are 
underway. Hopefully, they will continue actively with the top-level 
attention they certainly need.
  It was a signal of a great opportunity to work in partnership with 
the new Chinese Government to reach the shared objective of ridding 
North Korea of its nuclear weapons and to create a nuclear-free Korean 
peninsula. What a great way to build a partnership for the next 10, 20 
years, which is what this Government in China now professes it wants 
with the United States. President Hu said himself their primary 
objective for the next two decades is to increase and expand the 
economic progress that has been made in their country, to raise the 
standard of living of more and more of their citizens through the 
United States and other foreign investment through additional trade and 
economic growth there which has been staggering in the last 10 to 15 
years. As they pointed out, especially in the middle and western parts 
of the country, so much more needs to be done to bring those areas up 
to the eastern seaboard, mainland of China.
  That, hopefully, will be their priority and one that will serve to 
increase the likelihood of peace and economic and international 
security throughout the world. There would be nothing we could do that 
would be any more beneficial to our national interests than to 
encourage their economic progress and to build a relationship that is 
economic, that is cultural and social after they have resolved their 
current health crisis, and also provide the strong influence of both 
countries for peaceful resolution of the situation in North Korea and 
others that will arise inevitably in that part of the world.
  They also stressed, as did the South Korean and Taiwanese 
Governments, the importance of peacefully resolving the situation in 
North Korea. Anyone who believes a military resolution would be 
advisable should go over and meet with the leaders of those three 
respective countries--South Korea, China, and Taiwan, and even in 
Japan, as well. From the leadership with whom we met there, there is no 
one in that part of the world in responsible positions who wants to see 
a military threat or military action initiated there.
  There has been a great deal of economic progress in the areas of 
South Korea and Taiwan. While claiming to suffer from the worldwide 
economic slowdown, the rates of economic growth they are realizing in 
those countries, from 3.5- to 5-percent growth annually, is something 
that certainly this country and other nations in the world would be 
delighted to achieve. For them, that is a slowdown, creating 
unemployment they have not had heretofore and economic and social 
problems and welfare and safety net problems they have not had to deal 
with for the last decade.
  They also have a vital stake in having North Korea's nuclear program 
eliminated, as the President has said properly so, but continued so in 
a way that does not threaten the security and the stability of that 
region of the world.
  We also had the opportunity to travel to the demilitarized zone 
between North Korea and South Korea and had dinner with the 2nd Army 
Division--``second to none'' is one of their mottos, and appropriately 
so. They are second to none in their dedication and courage and 
commitment for being there. We stood right there on the DMZ and looked, 
as they do night after night, across the border. Another motto of 
theirs is ``fight tonight.'' They are in a constant State of readiness 
and alert, and all Americans should be mindful and respectful and 
enormously grateful to those brave men and women who put their lives on 
the line day and night, one after the other, without the kind of 
recognition their compatriots get in other parts of the globe--just as 
well trained, just as well prepared, every bit as willing to stand and 
defend the beacon of freedom in Korea as our forces have done so 
outstandingly in Iraq and previously in Afghanistan and anywhere else 
in the world.
  That is a reminder, once again, that freedom is priceless, but it is 
not free. It has to be won and preserved through dedication of the 
brave men and women in the 2nd Army Division. And to all of them, and 
their leader, GEN Leon LaPorte, commander of the United States forces 
in Korea, we all have the utmost respect and admiration.
  It reminded me why I introduced, along with Senator Sessions last 
year, legislation that would provide for financial incentive for troops 
involved, particularly those who reenlist in areas of the world such as 
Korea where they are separated from their families for long periods of 
time. It is one of the most difficult places in the military, we are 
told by the commanders, in which to recruit and especially re-recruit 
men and women to serve terms of duty because of the hardships, because 
of the additional costs that have to be borne because usually their 
families are left behind and that involves two parallel tracks of 
expenses--separation and phone bills. Senator Sessions and I proposed 
an income tax exemption for troops who serve in far-flung areas of the 
world such as Korea. I will renew my efforts this year to see that 
legislation enacted because it is the least we can do and the least 
that is deserved by these brave men and women.
  The commanders in those areas have asserted it would be invaluable in 
recruiting efforts.
  I see the real leader and the commander of the Senate when it comes 
to the Armed Services, my very distinguished chairman of the committee 
on which I am proud to serve, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services 
Committee, the Senator from Virginia.

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  I yield the floor.
  Mr. WARNER. Before my colleague departs, I commend him for the 
interest the Senator has taken in the men and women of the Armed 
Forces, the national security policy of this country as a Member of the 
Senate Armed Services Committee. Well done, sir.
  I have been privileged to be on that committee now, this being my 
25th year in the Senate, and the personal rewards from it for the 
association that the Senator has as a member of the committee with the 
men and women in uniform is beyond expectation. I thank the Senator for 
his service.
  (The remarks of Mr. Warner and Mr. Dayton pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 951 are located in today's Record under ``Statements 
on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. WARNER. I thank the Presiding Officer for his courtesies, and I 
suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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