    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [June 24, 1998]
    [Pages 1048-1050]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the Community at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage,
    Alaska
    June 24, 1998

        Thank you very much. Let me begin by thanking all of you for your
    service and for giving Hillary and me and our entire delegation--
    including Secretaries Albright,
    Rubin and Daley, and my Chief of Staff, Mr. Bowles, and National Security Adviser, Mr. Berger--all of

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    us feel so welcome--and for welcoming this very distinguished delegation
    of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives as we embark on
    this trip to China.
        And thank you for our service here, and thank you for bringing all
    the children. I always look forward to these stops at Elmendorf. You
    know, I couldn't go to China without stopping at Elmendorf--literally,
    of course. [Laughter] But I don't want to anymore.
        Of all the times I've been here, I've seen so many people I've had a
    chance to express personal thanks--I've never come here a single time
    and met with our service families that I haven't met at least one
    person, and usually more than one, whom I knew in my previous life when
    I was Governor of Arkansas, or whom I had met traveling around the
    country in their previous service at another base. So for all of that, I
    thank you.
        I'd like to thank Colonel Gration
    and you, General McCloud, for your
    distinguished remarks here and your service. General Simpson, thank you. I thank the members of the 3d Wing,
    the men and women of the Air Force, the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the
    Coast Guard, and the National Guard, all of whom make up the Alaska
    Command.
        Tomorrow Hillary and I and our party will arrive in Xi'an for the
    first state visit to China, as Congressman Hamilton said, by an American President this decade. The American
    people are taking a special interest in this trip, just as they did when
    President Nixon first went to China a quarter century ago. I thought it
    would be important for me to spend a few moments speaking to you, who
    give so much to the security of our country every day, about why I am
    going.
        Let's start with some basic facts. China is the world's most
    populous nation. It is growing by the size of our total population every
    20 years. It borders more than one dozen countries in one of the most
    challenging regions on Earth. Its economy has grown an average of 10
    percent every year for the past 20 years. It has a large military, a
    permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, sophisticated
    industrial and technological capabilities. Soon, it will overtake the
    United States as the world's largest emitter of the greenhouse gases
    that are doing so much to warm our planet.
        Clearly, the policies China chooses to pursue and the relationship
    between the United States and China will have a huge impact on your
    lives and the lives of your children and your grandchildren in the 21st
    century.
        Of course, our engagement with China does not mean we embrace
    everything that China does; nor does it mean, parenthetically, that they
    agree with everything we do. We have chosen a course that is both
    pragmatic and principled, expanding cooperation while dealing directly
    with our differences, especially over human rights. This policy is the
    best way to advance our national interests, as results clearly show.
        Just consider two areas vital to our security: promoting stability
    in Asia and stemming the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Better
    than anyone, you know how important the Asia-Pacific region is to our
    country's future. We've fought three wars in Asia in this century. Even
    in a recession, its economies still are major exports for our products.
    Five of our States touch the Pacific. Millions of Americans trace their
    roots to the Asia-Pacific region. We are an Asia-Pacific nation.
        We keep about 100,000 troops in Asia, not directed against any
    adversary but to maintain and enhance stability in a region that is
    going through very profound change. Now, I ask you to ask yourselves:
    How can we better maintain stability in Asia, by working with China or
    without it?
        On the Korean Peninsula, where nearly 40,000 United States soldiers
    patrol the cold war's last militarized fault line, China has worked with
    us to advance peace talks and to support our successful effort to freeze
    North Korea's nuclear program. When India and Pakistan bucked the tide
    of history and tested nuclear explosives recently, China helped to forge
    a common strategy, working with us, designed to move India and Pakistan
    away from a dangerous arms race. And China's economy today serves as a
    firebreak in the Asian financial crisis. That's good for Wall Street,
    but it's good for Main Street America, too.
        You all know how important our efforts are to stop the spread of
    nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. China will either be part of
    the problem or part of the solution. In the past, China has been a major
    exporter of sophisticated technologies. But over the last decade, China
    has joined and complied with most of the major arms control regimes,
    including the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention,
    the Comprehensive Nuclear

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    Test Ban Treaty, and it has agreed to abide by most of the provisions of
    the Missile Technology Control Regime.
        Over the past few years, it has also pledged to stop assistance to
    Iran for its nuclear program, to terminate its assistance to
    unsafeguarded nuclear facilities such as those in Pakistan, to sell no
    more antiship missiles to Iran. Each of these steps makes the world
    safer and makes America safer. It was in no small measure the product of
    our engagement.
        In many other areas that matter to the American people, working with
    China is making a difference, too, fighting international crime and drug
    trafficking, protecting the environment, working on scientific research.
    And if we keep doing it, we can accomplish a great deal more.
        When dealing with our differences, also, I believe, dealing face-to-
    face is the best way to advance our ideals and our values. Over time,
    the more we bring China into the world, the more the world will bring
    freedom to China. When it comes to human rights, we should deal
    respectfully but directly with the Chinese. That's more effective than
    trying to push them in a corner. I will press ahead on human rights in
    China with one goal in mind, and only one: making a difference.
        That's what all of you here in the Alaska Command are doing for
    America, making a difference. The reach of this command is truly
    remarkable, flying missions far and wide in your F-15's, AWACS, C-130
    airlifters: patrolling the skies below the Korean DMZ, facing threats in
    the Persian Gulf, helping democracy make a new start in Haiti, running
    counternarcotics operations out of Panama, training with Canadian forces
    in the Arctic, conducting oilspill exercises with Russia and Japan, and
    of course, working with the Chinese through the military-to-military
    exchange program you host. And I understand another group of Chinese
    officers will be here just next month.
        Wherever your country calls, you are there. Whenever your country
    needs you, you deliver. So again let me say to all of you, to those of
    you in uniform and to your families, your country thanks you, and I
    thank you.
        Last week, the summer solstice touched Elmendorf and you had 20
    hours of daylight. Hillary said she was glad to be here in the middle of
    the afternoon; we could have come in the middle of the night and still
    had daylight at this time of year. [Laughter] By December you'll be all
    the way down to 6 hours of light a day. But in every season, day and
    night, thanks to you the bright light of freedom burns here. It
    illuminates every corner of our planet. So no matter how cold or dark it
    gets, never forget that your fellow Americans know you are burning
    freedom's flame, and we are very, very grateful.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 7:09 p.m. in Hangar One. In his remarks, he
    referred to Col. Jonathan Scott Gration, USAF, Commander, 3d Wing; Lt.
    Gen. David J. McCloud, USAF, Commander, Alaskan Command and 11th Air
    Force; and Maj. Gen. Kenneth W. Simpson, USA, Commander, U.S. Army
    Alaskan Command.