[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[November 26, 1996]
[Pages 2151-2154]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok
November 26, 1996

    The President. Thank you very much. Dr. Thienchay, Dr. Kasem, to the 
students and faculty who are here, citizens of Thailand, my fellow 
Americans. Especially I would like to thank the glee club who sang. They 
did a marvelous job. Thank you very much for your music.
    I am delighted and honored to be here today at a great center of 
learning that is a living memorial to Thailand's glorious past, yet with 
a mission focused on the future; an institution that is proudly and 
distinctively Asian, yet reaching out to the entire world. And in the 
faces of the young people who are in this audience, we all see the 
shining promise of tomorrow.
    I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak here today about 
the future the United States, Thailand, and the entire Asia-Pacific 
region will share in the 21st century. Three years ago, I took my first 
trip overseas as President to Japan and Korea. Now, shortly after my 
reelection, again my first trip is to Asia, to Australia, the 
Philippines, and Thailand. In Australia, at APEC, in my meetings with 
the leaders of China, South Korea, Japan, and your own nation, I have 
reaffirmed America's commitment to the Asia-Pacific region. That 
commitment is stronger than ever, for in the 21st century America's 
future cannot be secure if Asia's future is in doubt.
    I wanted to visit Thailand for quite some time now, but I am 
especially glad to be able to join you in this historic year as we 
celebrate the life and work of His Majesty the King. The close ties 
between our two nations go back to 1833, when America signed a treaty of 
amity and commerce with the Kingdom of Siam. Those early bonds of 
friendship have endured the test of time, anchored by our security 
alliance, strengthened through our comradeship in Korea, in Vietnam, 
kept sharp and ready through Cobra Gold, the largest exercise involving 
United States forces anywhere in Asia.
    Our nations are partners in prosperity as well. We enjoyed some $18 
billion in two-way trade last year alone. We've forged important 
agreements in civil aviation, the protection of intellectual property, 
and the tax treaty I was honored to witness just a few moments ago here 
in Bangkok today.
    More than ever, our people are also joined by ties of culture and 
community. My country has been strengthened by the contributions of 
literally tens of thousands of Americans of Thai descent. And from 
Southern California to Houston to New York, our culture has been greatly 
enriched by the graceful temples, the ancient traditions, the exotic 
flavors of Thailand which now have a home in the United States.
    Now we must deepen our partnership for the demands of the 21st 
century. The United States and Thailand, for all the distance and 
differences between us, share a common vision, the dream of an Asia-
Pacific region where economic growth and democratic ideals are advancing 
steadily and reinforcing one another. That dream is coming true here in 
Thailand today, to the benefit of your people, this region, and the 
world.
    Consider just how much the world has changed since President Johnson 
spoke here at Chula 30 years ago. The cold war is over. ASEAN, born in 
the throes of the Vietnam war, last year welcomed Vietnam as its newest 
member. Thailand has become an economic powerhouse. The economies of 
east Asia are the fastest growing in the world. The new global economy, 
spurred on by continuous explosions in information and technology, is 
transforming the way we live and work and communicate, collapsing the 
distances between us as the free flow of goods and the free flow of 
ideas are bringing tremendous opportunities for people throughout the 
world.
    Of course, for all its promise, the 21st century will not be free of 
peril. Aggressive rogue states,

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global crime networks and drug traffickers, weapons proliferation, and 
terrorism, all these will continue to menace our security.
    The nations most likely to succeed in this new world, to succeed in 
seizing the opportunities and meeting the threats of our time, are those 
that respond to the needs and aspirations of their people, promote 
commerce and cooperation instead of conflict, and have the openness and 
flexibility to harness the winds of change.
    Thailand is proving that proposition every day. Yours has been the 
world's fastest growing economy over the last decade. You are laying the 
groundwork for an Asia of the future, where ancient cultures are linked 
by modern communications, where a vast and diverse region is joined by 
values of hard work and enterprise and shared benefits. This benefits 
the United States alone with more than 2 million jobs and 40 percent of 
our trade now tied to the Asia-Pacific region.
    In the face of this, some have argued that democracy actually 
hinders economic growth in this region and in developing nations. But we 
need look no further than the economic vitality of Thailand, the 
Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea to see that economic growth and 
democratic development can go hand in hand. Indeed, in the information-
based economy of today and tomorrow, free market democracies have unique 
advantages. Freedom and democracy strengthen the prospects for strong 
and enduring economic progress.
    A wave of democracy has swept the Earth in recent years, from 
Hungary to Haiti, to South Africa, to Cambodia, to Mongolia. More than 
half the world's people now live under governments of their own 
choosing, for the first time in all of human history.
    Here in Thailand, last week's elections were a further milestone in 
your democratic journey. As always in elections, there were winners and 
there were losers. I can say that; I have been a winner and a loser. 
[Laughter] And while losing is not as good as winning, whenever power is 
transferred peacefully and democratically, everyone in that nation is a 
winner.
    The United States is proud to have supported democracy's march 
across Asia. We do not seek to impose our vision of the world or any 
particular form of government on others. But we do believe that freedom 
and justice are the birthright of humankind. The citizens of Thailand, 
Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand--Taiwan--show 
us that accountable government and the rule of law can thrive in an 
Asian climate. The people of Cambodia and Mongolia proved that change is 
possible in difficult circumstances. The brave reformers in Burma led by 
Aung San Suu Kyi remind us that these desires know no boundaries. Their 
aspirations are universal because they are fundamentally human.
    Every nation of the Asia-Pacific must preserve the best of its 
traditions while pursuing the benefits of progress. But surely we can 
all agree that human dignity and individual worth must never be 
undervalued or abused. The United States will continue to stand with 
those who stand for freedom in Asia and beyond. Doing so reflects not 
only our ideals, it advances our interests. A nation that respects the 
rights of its own people is far more likely to respect the rights of its 
neighbors, to keep its word, to play by the rules, to be a reliable 
partner in diplomacy and trade and in the pursuit of peace and 
stability.
    It is in that pursuit that the United States will continue to 
maintain our strong Pacific presence, with 100,000 American troops to 
safeguard our common security. We are reinforcing our five core 
alliances here, including our very special alliance with Thailand. We're 
helping Asia to build new security structures to promote stability and 
peace. But let me be clear: Our presence is not aimed against anyone or 
any nation. Its aim is to benefit everyone and every nation through 
greater security and stability for all.
    Safeguarding stability, we know now, requires more than military 
strength. In a world grown closer, both the rewards of cooperation and 
the costs of conflict have risen dramatically. Just yesterday we saw a 
real result of working together as the APEC leaders, with strong support 
from Thailand, endorsed early completion of an information technology 
agreement which would cut to zero tariffs on products from 
semiconductors to software by the year 2000.
    Imagine the benefits to the students in this auditorium and those 
just outside and in booming countries the world over as ideas become 
even more open and accessible to people, as the information revolution 
spreads to even more eager minds. Imagine the even greater benefits 
which will come to that one-half of the world's population which, 
believe it or not, are still 2 days' walk from the nearest telephone. 
They

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cannot participate in this world we are trying to imagine and create 
unless we all join together to spread the benefits of the information 
revolution to everyone and to do it now.
    But let us not be blind to the fact that as barriers crumble and 
borders blur and progress spreads quickly, so, too, can trouble spread 
quickly in this new world. We have only to look at the spread of 
environmental degradation, HIV and AIDS, weapons of mass destruction, 
terrorism, drug trafficking, the rise of organized crime. These forces 
of destruction defy traditional defenses, just as traditional barriers 
can no longer keep out ideas, information, and truth. No nation is 
immune to the forces of destruction, and none can defeat these threats 
alone.
    Therefore, we must work together. The United States is working with 
Thailand to ease the toll that economic growth has taken on your 
environment. Many American environmental companies are working here for 
a healthier future not only in Thailand but beyond your borders. Our 
Embassy here is our regional headquarters for working on issues like air 
pollution and climate change throughout the area. Thailand is helping to 
lead the way. Recently you became the first developing nation to ban the 
production and import of refrigerators with ozone-destroying CFC's, and 
I thank you for that.
    We are also working with Thailand to help stop the terrible AIDS 
epidemic, now spreading faster in Asia than in any other region of the 
world. Again, Thailand stands on the very frontlines, setting a strong 
example in promoting AIDS prevention. But even with declining rates of 
infection, the public health problem is enormous. We in America will do 
our part by promoting dramatic increases in research and development of 
new drugs. I am happy to say that in our country in the last 4 years the 
average life expectancy for those with HIV and AIDS has more than 
doubled. We will continue to do our part, but you must continue to work 
as only you can here, as well.
    The United States Agency for International Development helped to 
launch the Thai Women of Tomorrow Project to assist young women in 
finding better prospects than the prostitution that puts their lives at 
risk. The First Lady visited that project the day before yesterday when 
she traveled to Chiang Mai to see the project started by faculty members 
at Chiang Mai University. Of course, this is important to try to turn 
these young women and their families away from destructive life habits. 
But as the First Lady has said all over the world, it is not enough to 
protect women and girls from those who would exploit them; we must all 
work together to open wide the positive doors of opportunity so that 
every person in every free society can contribute and share in its 
progress.
    Our cooperation is nowhere more essential than in the fight against 
the increasingly interconnected and global forces of organized crime. 
For left unchecked, these criminal conglomerates, multinational masters 
of the underworld, will distort free economies, derail fragile 
democracies, debilitate our societies with corruption and violence and 
drugs.
    Thailand and the United States are close and committed partners in 
the fight against drugs. We cannot afford to rest in the struggle, for 
the lives of too many millions of our young people are at stake. 
Thailand is setting a strong example for other nations. With the help of 
Their Majesties, the King and Queen, you have helped to give farmers the 
opportunity to give up the cultivation of opium in favor of other more 
productive crops. You have drafted money laundering legislation which we 
hope will soon be passed. You have helped to deter drug trafficking 
through your country by toughening your northern border patrols.
    And our extensive cooperation in law enforcement is clearly paying 
off. In 1994, Operation Tiger Trap dealt a crippling blow to a major 
trafficking network in Burma, enabling the arrest of 14 drug kingpins, 2 
of whom have now been extradited to the United States. In all your work 
in this area, Thailand is sending a clear signal to drug lords: We will 
fight you; we are determined to stop you. And America has a clear signal 
to Thailand: We will stand with you all the way. On behalf of General 
Barry McCaffrey, who leads our Nation's antidrug effort and who is with 
me today, and all those children whose lives we are helping to save, I 
thank the Thai Government and the people of Thailand for moving away 
from the scourge of narcotics.
    We know we must do more to fight illegal drugs at the source. Burma 
has long been the world's number one producer of opium and heroin and 
now is also making methamphetamines. The role of drugs in Burma's 
economic and political life and the regime's refusal to honor its own 
pledge to move to multiparty democracy are really two sides of the same 
coin, for both

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represent the absence of the rule of law. Every nation has an interest 
in promoting true political dialog in Burma, a dialog that will lead to 
a real fight against crime, corruption, and narcotics and a government 
more acceptable to its people.
    Whether we are fighting drugs, combating AIDS, trying to open bright 
new futures for our children, or working to protect the planet we share, 
Thailand and the United States are making our partnership work for our 
people, for we both know we have much more to gain from standing 
together than by going it alone. And we both appreciate how much can be 
achieved when dialog and democracy are the lifeblood of two nations' 
relations with each other, when policies are made through consensus, not 
coercion, and when people everywhere are given the tools and the chance 
to make the most of their own lives.
    Working together, the United States and Thailand can help lead the 
way to an Asia-Pacific region in which economic success and greater 
freedom advance together and support one another, a region in which 
growing opportunity is matched and strengthened by increasing freedom, 
stability, and security.
    We still have challenges to meet. We still have opportunities to 
seize. We still have much to learn from one another. But I am confident 
we will do all these things, because we know that by working together 
and working with others we can build a Pacific community based on shared 
interests, shared values, and shared dreams. It is my great honor, 
therefore, to be here today to reaffirm America's enduring engagement in 
the Asia-Pacific and our lasting and proud friendship with Thailand.
    Thank you very much.

[At this point, the degree of Doctor of Economics was conferred upon the 
President.]

    The President. Thank you very much. Let me just briefly say that--
first, to the distinguished officials of the university who voted this 
degree, I thank you very much. When I heard the president reading the 
degree citation, I have to tell you what I was thinking was I wish that 
they had made that available to the voters in my country before the last 
election. [Laughter] But I thank him for it very much.
    I understand that in many quarters this great university, 
Chulalongkorn, is known as the Harvard of Thailand. Now, I never made it 
to Harvard--[laughter]--but if I had to choose, I feel so thoroughly 
elevated today in my wonderful robes and with my degree, I prefer to 
have been awarded the degree here. And I thank you. I think every time I 
go back now to my wonderful friends in Massachusetts and at Harvard, I 
will always--at least a part of me will always think of Harvard as the 
Chulalongkorn of the United States. [Laughter]
    Thank you very much, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 1:05 p.m. in the auditorium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Thienchay Kiranandana, president, and Kasem 
Suwannakul, university council chairman, Chulalongkorn University; King 
Phumiphon and Queen Sirikit of Thailand; and Burmese opposition leader 
Aung San Suu Kyi.