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- Mr. SOLARZ. Mr. Speaker, my good friend, Dr. Trong Chai, recently gave a speech on United States policy toward Taiwan at a meeting here on Capitol Hill. Dr. Chai is a Taiwanese who lived in the United States for over two decades and has now returned to his homeland to participate in the island's political life. He presents a point of view that deserves consideration by those who care about the future of Taiwan, and I, therefore, ask that it be printed in the Congressional Record and made accessible to our colleagues.
Ladies and Gentlemen: My heart was filled with joy, gratitude and fear, when I received an invitation six months ago from four most distinguished gentlemen: Senator Pell, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Congressman Fascell, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senator Cranston, and Congressman Solarz, Chairman of the House Asian Subcommittee.
I wish to thank you deeply for your concern for the people in Taiwan, democratization of Taiwan's political processes, and the future of this island.
I am very pleased to be here to see once again so many familiar faces in a forum with great tradition of democracy. I would like to share with you my observations in Taiwan in the past two years and my endeavor to lead the Taiwanese to decide their future through a plebiscite.
Yet, I feel frightened.
I feel frightened, because to determine Taiwan's future by plebiscite is still a far cry from reality. Since my return to Taiwan two years ago to launch a plebiscite movement, I have participated in a peace demonstration, the largest and most fervent of its kind in the history of Taiwan. It indicates a strong desire of the 20 million people in Taiwan to determine their own future.
My assertion of a plebiscite fits perfectly well in the changing world trend in pursuit of true democracy. However, even with a peaceful movement such as this one, no one, under the current regime, can change the reactionary forces within the Nationalist Party, who block all efforts for democratization.
To express our concerns, I and some of Taiwan's leaders from all walks of life are here today. We firmly believe that the future of Taiwan should be in the hands of the 20 million inhabitants of Taiwan. They should, through a genuinely democratic process, voice their true opinions on the future and international status of Taiwan.
I believe that, in the spirit of The Mayflower, my distinguished guests, who are here today, can fully grasp the idea of self-determination the Taiwanese people want, and you will, without reservations, support the wish of the Taiwanese to strive for democracy.
To me, the best support the United States can give to Taiwan is, in its quest for a new world order, to change its outdated Taiwan policy.
In fact, the people of Taiwan and their government have, willingly and unwillingly, followed your changing Taiwan policy such as stated on various occasions by, among others, Honorable James Lilley, former Ambassador to Beijing, ex-President Richard Nixon, and President George Bush, who just made a great decision to sell F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan.
Since the Shanghai Communique signed by the Nixon Administration and China in 1972, the United States has, again and again, stressed its basic position on China that the U.S. `acknowledges that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of China.' Such pledge might settle temporarily the tensions between the United States and China; however, it provides an implicit ground to block the people of Taiwan from pursuing their own happiness and future.
Today, I want to express the feelings of 20 million Taiwanese and to point out the misconceptions inherent in the Shanghai Communique.
The `acknowledgement' by the United States should be limited to the view of the Chinese; it should never be interpreted as understanding the will of the people on Taiwan. Because there has not been a means given to them to express their own true views on basic political matters that affect their future.
The Communique ignores the iron fact that Taiwan, for almost 400 years, has been separated from China. During this period, there has been very little contact between them. Above all, the People's Republic of China has never set foot on Taiwan.
We, myself and by colleagues, are here to reflect the will of 20 million Taiwanese to call for the U.S. Congress and Senate to urge your government to adopt a new Taiwan policy, such that the wish of the Taiwanese be respected, to pay greater attention to the political and, especially, the growing economic power of this island in the world arena, to encourage holding a plebiscite in Taiwan, and to let the Taiwanese decide their own future--whether to be united with China, to maintain its status quo, or to establish a new, independent nation of its own.
I beg you to consider seriously the following question: Isn't it a most contributing first step toward building a new order in the Far East by providing such a mechanism that the Taiwanese vote to decide their own future?
My beloved homeland Taiwan is facing an unprecedented change: The first General Election in 40 years. Myself and my colleagues have, for 40 some years, been subject to the Kuomintang's oppression. Such political chains have, seemingly, been broken and Taiwan is walking toward democracy.
However, I would like to remind you that, although members of Congress are to be elected, there is no assurance of democracy there.
One of the most damaging outcomes of 40 years of martial law rule is monopoly of the mass media by the Nationalist Party. Taking the medium of television as an example, the Democratic Progressive Party has next to none in access to such medium, whereas the Nationalists have full access to it. In last year's National Assembly election, all candidates from the DPP camp were only allocated 65 minutes and 15 seconds of television time!
Ladies and Gentlemen, if, hypothetically speaking, there exists in the United States a political game whose winner in pre-determined, even though the race has not formally begun, would you consider it beyond comprehension? To us, who are accustomed to KMT's authoritarianism, the understanding of such rules of the game is by no means beyond our reach. As a matter of fact, every one of us knows that KMT will never stop playing such a dirty game.
My distinguished guests, do you want to join such an election? Besides, who, in this world, will call such a political game an `election' at all?
Unfortunately, myself and my good colleagues, some of them presently being sitting next to you, have no other choice but to participate in a shameful `General Election' a la such rule this winter. Not because we concur that rule, but because this is the only means we can fight for dignity for our people.
My friends, there are plenty of tricks used by the KMT to negate the tempo of democratization such as ELECTION FRAUD. Unabasedly, the KMT dares to suggest to its candidates to resort to illegal act such as vote buying to ensure winning. According to a scholarly work title `Election Fraud in Taiwan', published this year by Taiwan's
National Academy of Arts and Sciences, a study, using scientific sampling method, on voting behavior, shows 22.3% of registered voters claimed they received gifts from the candidates: and, a quarter of voters received gifts from the candidates who participated in last December's National Assembly election.
Professor Yang Wen-Shan, who supervised this research project, referring to the above study, commented: `The remarks on such research findings are too mild, which underestimate the extent of election fraud.' If then, one can charge with certainty that no less than 3 million voters can be exposed to and receive illegal gifts in a typical island-wide election.
Let me give you one more horrifying story on vote-buying. Months ago, in mayoral contest at Hsinying City, the KMT candidate spent 2,000 to 3,000 Taiwan Dollars--equivalent to one hundred US dollars--for one Identification Card (if the I.D. card is sold during the election time, the voter cannot cast his vote; instead, anyone who temporarily possesses the I.D. card could vote for that voter) to buy 500 I.D. Cards from potential supporters of the opposition candidate, Mr. Tseng Tien-teh. The repercussion was that Mr. Tseng, who represented the Democratic Progressive Party for that position, was defeated by 238 votes!
My friends, if one vote can trade for one hundred US dollars, and on average, 3 million registered voters could receive gifts at any given island-wide election, three hundred million dollars will have to spent in the coming election just for vote buying! According to Dr. Wu Nai-teh, another researcher at the National Academy of Arts and Sciences: `All vote buyers came from the KMT camp` What a horrible story on `democracy' under current regime!
I and other opinion leaders, who are now sitting next to you in this room, are very angry at this destructive state of political affairs. We are ashamed of it. However, we are not here to ask you for sympathy. We are here to remind you once again of the burning desire of 20 million people how much we want to determine our own will, through genuine referendum, in national affairs such as the political institutions, social structures, and fate of the nation.
I hope very much my presentation today can give you a sufficiently clear picture how democracy is mislead and distorted in the island where we live.
May I appeal to you, my distinguished guests, when you work for a new world order of peace and democracy, would you please be so kind as to frequently remind yourselves of a forgotten Asian island, called Taiwan, where, under the KMT's rigid and fictitious `One China' policy, 20 million people are constantly suffering from international isolation and denial of the right to self-determination.
I trust democracy is the best defense for Taiwan against aggression from China. And providing support for a plebiscite to safeguard security and happiness for 20 million people is the mildest action the American people can take with regard to Taiwan.
Earnestly hoping that the American and Taiwanese people work together to witness jointly a genuine democracy and lasting peace on Taiwan.
Thank you very much.
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