[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 46 (Monday, November 20, 2006)]
[Pages 2055-2060]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the National Singapore University in Singapore

November 16, 2006

    Thank you very much. Good evening. Laura and I are really pleased to 
be back in Singapore, and I appreciate the chance to come and speak to 
you at this fine university. I thank the Government, the people of 
Singapore for such gracious hospitality. I'm particularly pleased that 
my friend the Senior Minister Goh and his wife are with us today. Mr. 
Minister, thank you for joining us.
    I also had a very fine meeting with Prime Minister Lee earlier. I've 
come to know him as a wise man. I appreciate his good counsel. He's a 
friend and a partner, and he's a strong voice for peace and prosperity 
in Asia.
    Our roots, America's roots in Singapore are deep and enduring. I 
don't know if you know this or not, but our first counsel to Singapore 
arrived in the 1830s to promote American trade in this region. His wife 
was the daughter of one of America's most famous patriots, Paul Revere. 
She came to love the city, and she came to love its people. And to show 
that love, she donated a bell that was cast by the Revere Foundry to the 
old St. Andrew's Church. The Revere bell is now in the National Museum 
of Singapore, and it is a symbol of the long affection between the 
people of our two nations.
    The story of Singapore is a story of people who overcame challenges 
and transformed a small port city into one of the most prosperous 
nations on Earth. Many of you have parents or grandparents who remember 
riding ox carts, and now fly across the oceans from one the world's most 
modern airports. Some learned four national anthems over their 
lifetime--Britain's, Japan's, Malaysia's, and finally, Singapore's. 
Others recall Singapore's early days and the pessimists who predicted 
that a small country with no natural resources was doomed to fail.
    By your effort and enterprise, you have proven the pessimists wrong. 
And today, Singapore has one of the most vibrant economies in the entire 
world. In many ways, Singapore's transformation from a small trading 
outpost to a confident and prosperous leader is the story of Asia. Like 
Singapore, this region was mired in poverty after the Second World War. 
Like Singapore, the region had to overcome challenges that included war 
and occupation and colonialism. Like Singapore, the region faced threats 
from movements that sought to destabilize governments and impose their 
ideology on others. And like Singapore, the region has overcome these 
challenges, and the Asia we see today

[[Page 2056]]

is the fastest growing and most dynamic region in the world.
    The United States has long recognized that it is in our interests to 
help expand hope and opportunity throughout Asia. And our policies have 
reflected this commitment for more than six decades. By opening our 
doors to Asian goods, America has ensured that Asian workers and 
businesses and entrepreneurs would have access to the world's largest 
economy. By maintaining a strong military presence in the region, 
America has helped provide stability. And with these actions, America 
has helped contribute to the modern and confident Asia we see today--a 
region where people's incomes and opportunities are rising, where 
businesses compete in the global economy, and where citizens know that a 
world growing in trade is a world expanding in opportunity.
    In this new century, America will remain engaged in Asia, because 
our interests depend on the expansion of freedom and opportunity in this 
region. In this new century, our trade across the Pacific is greater 
than our trade across the Atlantic, and American businesses see a bright 
future in your thriving economies and rising middle class.
    In this new century, we see threats like terrorism and proliferation 
and disease that have the potential to undermine our prosperity and put 
our futures in doubt. Amid these challenges, we hear voices calling for 
us to retreat from the world and close our doors to its opportunities. 
These are the old temptations of isolationism and protectionism, and 
America must reject them. We must maintain our presence in the Pacific. 
We must seize on our common opportunities. We must be willing to 
confront our common threats. And we must help our partners build more 
hopeful societies throughout this vital part of the world.
    Building more hopeful societies starts with opening up to the 
opportunities of a global trading system. By opening up to trade, 
countries attract foreign investment they need to provide jobs and 
opportunities for their people. By opening up to trade, countries help 
attract the know-how that will enable them to compete in a global 
marketplace. And by opening up to trade, countries build wealth and 
empower their citizens.
    The United States has long been committed to a global trading system 
that is free and that is fair. And so is Singapore. Singapore was the 
host of the first meeting of the World Trade Organization in 1996, where 
we announced an important new agreement on information technology goods. 
A decade later, America and Singapore are again close partners working 
toward a common purpose, a breakthrough in the Doha negotiations. Only 
an ambitious Doha agreement with real market access can achieve the 
economic growth and development goals that this world has set, and we 
look to nations across the Asia-Pacific region to help put these vital 
talks back on track.
    To help build momentum for more open global trade, we're also 
opening up markets with individual nations. On this side of the Pacific, 
America has negotiated free trade agreements with Singapore and 
Australia, and we're negotiating similar agreements with Malaysia and 
South Korea. On the other side of the Pacific, we have successful free 
trade agreements with Canada and Mexico and Chile, and we've concluded 
negotiations with Peru. America believes in free and fair trade, and we 
will continue to open up new avenues to commerce and investment across 
this region.
    Tomorrow I'm going to travel to Vietnam for the annual summit of the 
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. APEC has a vital role to play 
in promoting more open trading. In 1994, in Bogor, Indonesia, APEC 
reached an historic agreement to liberalize trade and investment 
throughout the region by 2020, and the United States strongly supports 
this goal. Recently some APEC members have advanced the idea of a free 
trade agreement for the entire APEC region. I believe this idea deserves 
serious consideration. The United States believes that APEC is the 
premier economic forum in the region. We believe APEC has immense 
potential to expand free trade and opportunity across the Pacific, and 
we will do our part to help APEC become a stronger organization that 
serves as an engine for economic growth and opportunity throughout the 
region.
    The remarkable economic growth that this region has achieved points 
to a clear lesson: The expansion of trade is the most certain

[[Page 2057]]

path to lasting prosperity. America will continue to pursue trade at 
every level with individual countries, across all regions, and through 
the WTO. We will work to remove barriers to trade and investment, and by 
doing so, we will help reduce poverty and promote stability. And we will 
give citizens on both sides of the Pacific a brighter future.
    Building more hopeful societies means working together to confront 
the challenges that face the entire region. Open markets and the 
entrepreneurial spirit have set off historic economic booms in Asia. 
This economic growth creates new opportunities, and yet we've got to 
recognize it creates new challenges. We must find the energy to power 
our growing economies. We must counter the risk of pandemic disease. And 
we must bring more people into the circle of development and prosperity. 
Meeting these challenges will require the effort of every nation, and 
you can count on the commitment of the United States.
    As the economies of the Asia-Pacific thrive and expand, one of our 
most pressing needs will be an affordable, reliable supply of energy. 
Four of the world's top five energy consumers are APEC members, and the 
region's need for energy is going to continue to rise. The answer to 
this challenge is familiar in Asia: Harness the power of technology. 
Together, we must unleash the same spirit of innovation and enterprise 
that sparked the Asian economic revolution to spark a new revolution in 
new energy technologies.
    America knows the importance of developing new energy sources 
because we are too dependent on a single source, and that is oil. So 
we're investing aggressively in clean coal technology, renewable fuels 
like ethanol and biodiesel, and hydrogen fuel cells. Since 2001, we've 
spent nearly $10 billion on clean energy technologies, and we're going 
to invest even more in the years to come. Across this region, we're 
cooperating with friends and allies to share our discoveries. We are 
learning from your experiences, and we're going to work together to 
improve new energy technologies--it's in our mutual interest to do so.
    This cooperation includes several key initiatives that hold the 
promise of a cleaner and more energy-efficient world. Through the Asia-
Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, the United States 
is working with Australia and China and India and Japan and South Korea 
to share best practices and deploy new energy technologies. Last month, 
our partnership announced nearly 100 new projects, ranging from clean 
coal to renewable energy to more efficient buildings. These new 
technologies are helping us to improve our energy security, and as 
importantly, are helping to improve air quality by cutting greenhouse 
gas emissions.
    Through the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, America is working 
with other leaders in nuclear energy, like Russia and France and Japan, 
to help developing nations use civilian nuclear energy, while guarding 
against weapons proliferation. And through the APEC Biofuels Task Force, 
we're working with nations across the region to search for new ways to 
replace oil with clean fuels made from palm oil and sugar cane and other 
natural products.
    My hope is that the investments that we make today will enable you 
to drive different kind of automobiles and to heat your homes and air-
condition your homes using different sources of energy. It's in the 
world's interest that we work together to end our addiction from oil.
    Keeping our economies growing also requires protecting the health of 
our people. Four years ago, we saw the SARS virus inflict terrible 
damage on Asian-Pacific economies, a virus that claimed the lives of 
hundreds of people all across the world. Now this region faces a new 
threat of avian flu, and we're working together to address that threat. 
Vietnam was recently among the nations hardest hit by avian flu. Then 
Vietnam's leaders started to share information with the international 
community, and improve monitoring and public awareness, and take the 
difficult step of culling birds that might be infected. Vietnam's 
decisive actions have paid off. When I arrive in Hanoi for the APEC 
summit tomorrow, the country will have gone more than a year without a 
human case of avian flu. Our strategy is beginning to work.
    At our summit, leaders will reaffirm our mutual responsibilities to 
report new avian

[[Page 2058]]

flu cases, to contain the spread of animal outbreaks, and to follow wise 
preparedness plans. We've taken the important steps to stop the spread 
of avian flu, but we must continue to increase cooperation to ensure 
that if the pandemic ever does break out, the world will be ready to 
deal with it.
    America has committed over $15 billion to fight the spread of HIV/
AIDS across the world. Today, Vietnam has an estimated 280,000 citizens 
who suffer from this deadly virus, and many more who are in danger of 
becoming infected. Through our emergency plan for AIDS relief, we're 
working with Vietnam to do something about it. We've launched an 
ambitious 5-year program to help Vietnam meet three clear goals: to 
support treatment for 22,000 people; to support care for 110,000 people; 
and to support testing and prevention for 660,000 people.
    Since 2004, we've provided more than $138 million for this plan. 
We've helped bring relief to thousands of Vietnamese. It is in our 
interest to help defeat the spread of HIV/AIDS. This is a global 
challenge that grows daily and must be confronted directly. And I look 
forward to working with our Asian partners to do our duty to defeat this 
disease.
    Our partners also know they can count on the United States when a 
disaster strikes suddenly. After the tsunami struck in 2004, we quickly 
dispatched military assistance and humanitarian relief to save lives and 
help devastated communities rebuild. By coming to the aid of people in 
dire need, America showed the good heart of our citizens and the depth 
of our friendship in this region.
    Our commitments extend far beyond responding to disaster, and they 
must if we expect this world to be peaceful and prosperous. We're 
helping countries like the Philippines and Indonesia to provide their 
children an education that prepares them to succeed in the global 
economy. My administration started a new and bold foreign policy--
foreign aid initiative called the Millennium Challenge Account. The 
United States will provide financial assistance to developing nations 
that govern justly--in other words, fight corruption--that invest in 
their people and enforce the rule of law. We've signed a Millennium 
Challenge threshold agreement with the Philippines. We will soon begin 
discussions with Peru. And tomorrow we will sign an agreement with 
Indonesia. By providing governments that are committed to reform vital 
aid, we will help bring this region closer to a day when the benefits of 
economic growth and prosperity reach every citizen.
    America has a clear approach to the challenges of the Asia-Pacific 
region. We believe that alleviating poverty and fighting disease and 
harnessing the benefits of technology require partnership, not 
paternalism. And the United States makes this pledge: Every nation that 
works to advance prosperity, health, and opportunity for all its people 
will find a ready partner in the United States.
    Building more hopeful societies depends on a foundation of security. 
At the start of this young century, the nations of the Asia-Pacific 
region face a profound challenge: The same technology and global 
openness that have transformed our lives also threaten our lives. The 
same innovations that make it easier to build cars and computers make it 
easier to build weapons of mass destruction. The same advances in 
international transportation and finance that allow a manufacturer in 
Singapore to sell electronics to a store in San Francisco would also 
allow a proliferating regime in the Far East to sell dangerous 
technologies to a terrorist organization in the Middle East.
    The danger is unmistakable. In an age of unprecedented technological 
advances, irresponsible behavior by a few can have catastrophic 
consequences for the entire world. The people of this region understand 
the threat that the world faces because they have been the targets of 
terrorist violence. The terrorists have attacked a nightclub in Bali, a 
hotel in Jakarta, a ferry packed with passengers in Manila Bay, a school 
full of children in Russia, Australia's Embassy in Indonesia, and other 
targets.
    The killers who committed these acts of terror are more than 
criminals; they are followers of a clear and focused ideology that hates 
freedom and rejects tolerance and despises all dissent. Their stated 
goal is to establish a totalitarian Islamic empire stretching from 
Europe to Southeast Asia. The greatest danger in our world today is that 
these terrorists could get their hands on weapons of mass destruction 
and use them to blackmail free

[[Page 2059]]

nations or to kill on an unimaginable scale. This threat poses a risk to 
our entire civilization, and all our nations must work together to 
defeat it.
    In this region, the most immediate threat of proliferation comes 
from North Korea. America's position is clear: The transfer of nuclear 
weapons or materiel by North Korea to states or non-state entities would 
be considered a grave threat to the United States, and we would hold 
North Korea fully accountable for the consequences of such action. For 
the sake of peace, it is vital that the nations of this region send a 
message to North Korea that the proliferation of nuclear technology to 
hostile regimes or terrorist networks will not be tolerated.
    After North Korea's recent nuclear test, the United Nations Security 
Council passed a unanimous resolution making it clear that the regime's 
pursuit of nuclear weapons is unacceptable. The resolution imposes 
sanctions on North Korea's regime, and America will work with our 
partners to enforce those sanctions. We'll also continue working with 
Japan and China and South Korea and Russia through the six-party talks. 
Our nations are speaking with one voice: The only way for North Korea to 
move forward, for the good of their people, is to abandon its nuclear 
weapons programs and rejoin the international community.
    North Korea recently took an encouraging step when it agreed to come 
back to the table and restart the six-party talks. The United States 
wants these talks to be successful, and we will do our part. If North 
Korea chooses a peaceful path, America and our partners in the six-party 
talks are prepared to provide security assurances, economic assistance, 
and other benefits to the North Korean people.
    Ultimately, the success of these talks depends on the regime in 
North Korea. Pyongyang must show it's serious--show it is serious by 
taking concrete steps to implement its agreement to give up its nuclear 
weapons and weapons programs.
    As we work for a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons, we're 
also strengthening defense cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. 
Unlike Europe, where our security cooperation takes place through the 
NATO Alliance, America's security cooperation in Asia takes place 
largely through bilateral defense relations.
    America places the highest value on these partnerships. We're 
committed to strengthening our existing partnerships and to building new 
ones. With Japan, we continue to work closely to field a missile defense 
system to protect both our countries and others in the region from rogue 
regimes threatening blackmail and/or destruction. With South Korea, we 
have upgraded our deterrent capabilities, while reducing our footprint 
and repositioning U.S. troops stationed in the country. With Australia, 
we're working to improve joint training of our forces and increase 
cooperation in areas such as intelligence and missile defense research. 
With the Philippines, we're working to improve the capabilities of the 
nation's armed forces to fight terrorism and other threats. With India, 
we signed an historic agreement to expand defense cooperation, increase 
joint exercises, and improve intelligence sharing. With Vietnam, our 
Navy has made four port calls over the past 3 years, the first visits by 
U.S. military ships since the Vietnam war. And with Singapore, we signed 
a new strategic framework agreement that provides for joint military 
exercises and cooperation in military research and development.
    By building new defense relationships and strengthening existing 
alliances, we are ensuring that the forces of freedom and moderation in 
this region can defend themselves against the forces of terror and 
extremism.
    In addition to these bilateral defense relationships, America 
welcomes the growing multilateral security cooperation in this region. 
Today, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are coordinating 
patrols in the Strait of Malaka and working to combat terrorism, piracy, 
and human trafficking. Through the Proliferation Security Initiative, 80 
countries are cooperating to stop the spread of weapons of mass 
destruction and related materiel through air, land, and sea. APEC 
members know that advancing trade and opportunity throughout the Pacific 
requires safe travel and transport, so we will continue to work together 
to improve the security of our ports and airports and transportation 
routes.

[[Page 2060]]

    With all these efforts, the nations of this region are answering the 
threats of the 21st century. And in doing so, we are laying the 
foundation of security and peace for generations to come. In the long 
run, the surest path to security is the expansion of liberty and 
freedom. History shows that free societies are peaceful societies. 
Democracies do not attack each other. Governments accountable to voters 
focus on building roads and schools, not weapons of mass destruction. 
Young people who have a say in their future are less likely to search 
for meaning in extremism. And nations that commit to freedom for their 
people don't support terrorists and extremists but, in fact, will join 
together to defeat them.
    America is committed to advancing freedom and democracy as the great 
alternatives to repression and radicalism. We will take the side of 
democratic leaders and reformers. We will support the voices of 
tolerance and moderation across the world. We will stand with the 
mothers and fathers in every culture who want to see their children grow 
up in a caring and peaceful society.
    We recognize that every democracy will reflect the unique culture 
and history of its people. Yet we recognize that there are universal 
freedoms, that there are God-given rights for every man, woman, and 
child on the face of this Earth. The people of Asia have faith in the 
power of freedom because you've seen freedom transform nations across 
your continent.
    At the beginning of World War II, this side of the Pacific had only 
two democracies: Australia and New Zealand. Today, millions of Asians 
live in freedom. Freedom has unleashed the creative talents of people 
throughout Asia. Freedom has helped prosperity sweep across the region.
    In all that lies ahead, the people of this region will have a 
partner in the American Government and a friend in the American people. 
Together the people of America and Asia have endured dark and uncertain 
hours. Together we've seen modern nations rise from the rubble of war 
and launch dynamic economies that are the envy of the world. Together we 
will confront the challenges of the new century and build a more hopeful 
and peaceful and prosperous future for our children and our 
grandchildren.
    I appreciate your hospitality. Thank you for letting me come by and 
share some thoughts with you. May God bless the people of Singapore.

Note: The President spoke at 6:04 p.m. in the University Cultural Centre 
Theatre. In his remarks, he referred to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong of 
Singapore, and his wife, Tan Choo Leng; and Prime Minister Lee Hsien 
Loong of Singapore.