[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 43 (Monday, October 29, 2001)]
[Pages 1517-1518]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

October 20, 2001

    Good morning. I'm speaking to you today from Shanghai, China, at an 
international meeting of Pacific rim nations where we are continuing to 
enlist the resources of the civilized world in our war against 
terrorism.

[[Page 1518]]

    I am meeting with leaders from China and Mexico, Russia and Canada, 
Australia and Japan, and many other friends, allies, and trading 
partners. We're discussing ways to cooperate to improve intelligence, 
freeze funding, and better track down terrorist groups. We're also 
discussing ways to better protect all our citizens from a new threat, 
the threat of bioterrorism.
    America has now confirmed several different cases of anthrax 
exposure in Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC. I commend 
the many health and law enforcement officials who have worked quickly to 
identify people who may have been exposed and provide preventative 
antibiotic treatment. Their quick work has no doubt saved lives.
    We do not yet know who sent anthrax to the United States Capitol or 
several different media organizations. We do not, at this point, have 
any evidence linking the anthrax to the terror network that carried out 
the attacks of September 11. We do know that anyone who deliberately 
delivers anthrax is engaged in a crime and an act of terror, a hateful 
attempt to harm innocent people and frighten our citizens.
    Our health care laboratories and law enforcement officials continue 
to work overtime to test samples, to track leads, and prosecute hoaxes 
that have now been reported not only across America but across the 
world. These attacks once again reveal the evil at the heart of 
terrorism, the evil we must fight.
    The nations meeting here in Shanghai understand what is at stake. If 
we do not stand against terrorism now, every civilized nation will at 
some point be its target. We will defeat the terrorists by destroying 
their network, wherever it is found. We will also defeat the terrorists 
by building an enduring prosperity that promises more opportunity and 
better lives for all the world's people. We will oppose envy, 
resentment, and anger with growth, trade, and democracy.
    The countries of the Pacific rim made the decision to open 
themselves up to the world, and the result is one of the great 
development success stories of our time. The peoples of this region are 
more prosperous, healthier, and better educated than they were only two 
decades ago. Many more live under democratically elected governments.
    This progress has been achieved by people of all cultures and all 
religions, by Christian and Buddhist South Korea, and majority-Muslim 
Malaysia and Indonesia. And this progress proves what openness can 
accomplish.
    The terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. They fear trade 
because they understood that trade brings freedom and hope. We're in 
Shanghai to advance world trade because we know that trade can conquer 
poverty and despair. In this struggle of freedom against fear, the 
outcome is not in doubt; freedom will win. And it will bring new hope to 
the lives of millions of people in Asia and throughout the world.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 3:37 p.m. on October 19 at the Portman 
Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Shanghai, China, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m., EST, 
on October 20. The transcript was made available by the Office of the 
Press Secretary on October 19 but was embargoed for release until the 
broadcast. In his remarks, he referred to President Jiang Zemin of 
China; President Vicente Fox of Mexico; President Vladimir Putin of 
Russia; Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada; Prime Minister John 
Howard of Australia; and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan. The 
Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of the address.