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Mr. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, we have a rather unusual set of circumstances surrounding United States policy toward our friends in Taiwan. The State Department has indicated that there would be an interagency review of our official policy toward Taiwan. The White House has said that it will come out any day now. It has been 1 year since the State Department advised us initially that the review of the policy was forthcoming.
The purpose of this statement is simply to remind the White House and State Department that more than a reasonable period of time has gone by. The revision of the policy is long overdue.
Taiwan deserves more diplomatic respect. It is an important, stable democratic, and loyal ally in the Asia-Pacific region. It is a model for emerging democracies. It has a strong and stable economy. It is now our fifth-largest trading partner and buys almost twice as much from the United States as the People's Republic of China--$14 billion in exports to Taiwan versus $8 billion to the PRC. It has among the largest foreign reserves of any nation. It has a much improved human rights record.
But, Madam President, rather than reward Taiwan for good behavior, we seem to be punishing it with diplomatic snubs. President Lee was blocked from staying overnight in Hawaii. His aircraft was allowed to land and refuel only. He was not greeted even by the base commander.
We have not had a Cabinet officer travel to Taiwan since Carla Hills back in 1991 under the previous administration. Taiwanese officials visiting the United States have been forced to hold meetings in a hotel room rather than in the State Department.
Taiwan's representatives have been forced to operate under a name that really does not identify the country. Taiwan is represented in Washington, DC by an agency called the Coordination Council for North American Affairs. What does that mean? There is no identification of the country. It is absolutely ridiculous. The representatives should be allowed to use an appropriate name, such as Taiwan or Taipei Representative Office. The American Institute in Taiwan, which is our presence in Taiwan, of course identifies the United States. But Taiwanese who go there to obtain a visa to come to the United States receive a Hong Kong stamp on their visa issued in Taiwan. What is the State Department going to do after 1997, with absolutely inconsistent policies with no explanation other than the sensitivity by the PRC?
We say that we are committed to providing for Taiwan's self-defense, but we arbitrarily limit our sales under a bucket agreement. It is very, very hard to determine just what the policy is that was reached initially with the People's Republic of China. Moreover, we have refused to help Taiwan gain a place in the United Nations.
So I would urge the President to make changes in these outdated policies in a new Taiwan policy. I do not think I am alone in my thinking. We have 54 colleagues who signed on the letter to the President urging him to send Cabinet-level officials to Taiwan.
Madam President, Ambassador James Lilley, the current director of Asian policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute has served both as Ambassador to the People's Republic of China in 1989 to 1991 and head of the American Institute of Taiwan from 1982 to 1984. He has written and spoken eloquently on the need for changing our relationships with Taiwan.
In a recent speech entitled `Who is `Kow-Towing' Now' Ambassador Lilley observed:
If the Clinton administration is serious about the enlargement of democracy and human rights, why not start with Taiwan where outstanding progress has been made in a short period of 10 years?
A further quote:
The current administration should not be engaged in a zero-sum game between the PRC and Taiwan. That policy ended with the Taiwan Relations Act passed under President Carter in April 1979. Taiwan and China are getting along now better than they have since 1949. It is important to recognize that when the President receives Chinese vice-premier Zou Jia hua in the Oval office at the White House that he should also treat with dignity and respect the democratically elected president of Taiwan. Dr. Lee, a Ph.D. from Cornell University, and a devout Christian, demonstrates the best in family values as well. Humiliating him will only set back American policy, both in China and on Taiwan.
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the entire statement by Ambassador Lilley be printed in the Record, as well as an article from the New York Times joining this chorus. And I would note that the New York Times correctly points out that, `Taiwan is too important a factor in East Asian politics, economics and security to be left out of the new post-cold-war order now taking shape.'
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Who Is `Kow-Towing' Now?
President Lee Teng-hui, the democratically elected leader of 21 million Chinese on Taiwan sat in his plane, on the tarmac in Hawaii for two hours while it was being refueled. He was enroute to celebrate democracy on two continents. But in Hawaii he saw no U.S. official, and he met no state official. He was treated this way because the Chinese protested his presence in the United States. Simply speaking: Washington caved-in to pressure from Beijing. In contrast to the U.S.'s mishandling of Lee, passing through Singapore on his way back from his triumphant trip for democracy, he was met with honor at the airport by Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
President Lee had left Taiwan on May 4th, on the anniversary of the May 4, 1919 movement in China--a democratic protest in Tiananmen Square against foreign imperialism and oppressive government. President Lee first travelled to Costa Rica, the longest running democracy in Central America, where he participated as a distinguished guest in the inauguration of the President. He then visited Nicaragua where he blessed the return of democracy to that beleaguered country. Most important, Lee Teng-hui attended the epic inauguration of Nelson Mandela in South Africa which marked the rise of democracy and freedom after centuries of apartheid and semi-colonialism. During his visits, everywhere except in the United States, he was treated honorably and respectfully.
Earlier this year, President Lee Teng-hui had visited Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, all countries living in the shadow of the power of China. In each instance, he met the heads of state; the King in Thailand, President Suharto in Indonesia, and President Ramos in the Philippines. It was Lee's vacation diplomacy with a high level flourish. And though China protested, the leaders of the Southeast Asian nations all stood tall.
The Clinton Administration, has had a narrow and belligerent focus on human rights in China and has also insulted Taiwan in the process. This has begun to unravel the carefully constructed parallel approach to China and Taiwan carried out by five U.S. administrations--Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush. In those administrations, the U.S. advanced American interests in China by increasing trade, promoting human rights, checking weapons proliferation and gaining China's cooperation on key international issues such as Desert Storm, Cambodia, and North Korea. At the same time, Taiwan visitors were treated with respect, defensive arms were sold to Taiwan and democracy and prosperity came to the people of China and Taiwan. Clinton has now begun to reverse his flawed policy in China, but his Taiwan policy is mired in the past.
Previously, with this enlightened continuity in U.S. policy, Taiwan and China had begun to work-out their own problems. Led by Lee Teng-hui's bold policies of rapprochement, trade and investment flowed across the strait from Taiwan to China, living standards were raised on the mainland, high quality products were produced, relatives were reunited, and athletic, cultural and academic relations expanded. Taiwan's economic miracle-makers advised China on macro-economic policies. President Lee has, by these
moves, done more to help the people of China than half of the central leaders in Beijing.
But President Lee has problems, democracy on Taiwan has released voices which advocate extreme solutions; independence from China, and greater confrontation with China. Lee Teng-hui, as a moderate, has managed these challenges well, but when his government is humiliated and downgraded, opposition voices grow louder and gain strength. In addition, President Lee is taking-on a major industrial build-up. Taiwan is a huge market for American exports, double that of the PRC and some major billion-dollar sales are now coming-up for decision. Mishandling Taiwan's leadership is no way to win sales, especially when our European counterparts are doing a much better job courting Taiwan.
If the Clinton administration is serious about the enlargement of democracy and human rights why not start with Taiwan where outstanding progress has been made in the short period of ten years. I was in Taiwan as the head of a mission from 1982-1984 and was also there as a young officer in 1952. I my personal experience, which included a long trip around Taiwan with Governor Lee Teng-hui, democracy in Taiwan has made substantial progress, as rapidly as any other country in Asia. Despite this, China will try to use the United States to pressure Taiwan into compliance with China's goals on unification. We should not be susceptible to this kind of pressure and we do not need to be. President Bush sent cabinet-level official Carla Hills to Taiwan, welcomed Taiwan's ministers to Washington, sold defensive weapons to match the PRC's military build-up, and at the same time, gradually restored U.S. relations with China while achieving real progress on human rights and market-opening. The current administration should not be engaged in a zero-sum game between the PRC and Taiwan. That policy ended with the Taiwan Relations Act passed under President Carter in April 1979. Taiwan and China are getting along now better than they have since 1949. It is important to recognize that when the President receives Chinese vice-premier Zou Jia hua in the oval office at the White House that he should also treat with dignity and respect the democratically elected president of Taiwan. Dr. Lee, a Ph.D. from Cornell University, and a devout Christian, demonstrates the best in family values as well. Humiliating him will only set back American policy, both in China and on Taiwan.
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From the New York Times, July 17, 1994
Look Again at Taiwan
If buying $8 billion worth of American products entitles China to flout President Clinton's human rights requirements and still win renewal of its trade privileges, buying twice that amount should entitle Taiwan to a little diplomatic respect.
Taiwan has one of Asia's most developed economies, best armed militaries and most vibrant democracies. Yet Taiwan's President is not allowed to stay overnight on American soil, Taiwanese officials are not allowed to meet their U.S. counterparts in government buildings and Taiwan's diplomatic offices in this country cannot use any name that would identify the country they represent.
This charade reflects the long-held position of both Taipei and Beijing that there is only one China and that it includes both the mainland and Taiwan. Washington abided by this fiction both before and after it switched U.S. recognition from Nationalist Taiwan to the Communist mainland in 1979.
But in reality two distinct societies, economies and political systems have grown up on either side of the Taiwan Straits. And despite its official `one China policy,' Taipei now seeks diplomatic recognition as a separate political entity.
That has prompted the Clinton Administration to undertake a cautious review of U.S. policy. The resulting recommendations await White House approval. They would ease some of the more humiliating diplomatic restrictions now in force. Cabinet-level visits in both directions would be permitted. Meetings could take place on official premises. Taiwan's unofficial representative offices could be renamed. These are useful steps, meant to make it easier for Americans to do business with the country's fifth-largest trading partner.
But recognizing reality should not stop there. Taiwan is too important a factor in East Asian politics, economics and security to be left out of the new post-cold war order now taking shape. It belongs in the new World Trade Organization. It ought to be included in the Asean Regional Forum on security being launched in Bangkok later this month. And ideally, it should be admitted to the U.N.
The main obstacle to Taiwan's inclusion in such organizations is the bellicose opposition of mainland China, which openly asserts the right to invade and annex Taiwan if the Government there acts too independently. Beijing claims that its relations with Taiwan are an internal matter to be resolved by the two sides alone without outside involvement.
It is not in America's interest to provoke China on this score. But shutting Taiwan out of international forums also carries risks for the U.S. Under present arrangements, if China made good on its threats to attack, other Asian countries would look the other way while the United States, alone, would find itself caught in the middle of the fray.
Last year, Washington helped arrange a compromise formula that let Taiwan participate in the Asia-Pacific economic summit meetings in Seattle. Now it should begin exploring ways to involve Taiwan in the new regional security forum as well.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Finally, Madam President, I would refer my colleagues to a formal interview with President Lee which was conducted this spring by a leading Japanese publication, Asahi Weekly. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
From Asahi Weekly, May 6 to 13, 1994
The Grief of Being Born a Taiwanese
Lee Teng-hui, President of Taiwan: Born in 1923. Studied at Taipei High School (under the old education system) and Kyoto Imperial University and later, after the war, graduated from Taiwan University. Also studied in the United States (Ph.D. in agricultural economics, Cornell University, 1968). Assumed the office of Vice President of Taiwan in 1984. In 1988 became President of Taiwan following the death of Chiang Ching-kuo. Lee Teng-hui is a devout Christian.
Ryotaro Shiba, a writer: Born in 1923. Graduated from Osaka Foreign Language School, with a major in Mongolian language. `Travel Notes from Taiwan' was made possible by the encouragement of his former classmate and friend Chen Shun Chen.
At the conclusion of his book, `Travel Notes from Taiwan,' Mr. Ryotaro Shiba wrote the following phrase: `the rain in my heart falls endlessly.' The travel notes provoked a strong response from many readers, and it appeared the author Mr. Shiba still had left things unsaid that he wanted to express. Thanks to the help of many people, this special interview was arranged at the President's Official Residence in Taipei City. President Lee Teng-hui appeared alone and announced, `Mr. Shiba, I have a lot of things to discuss with you.' The entire interview was conducted in Japanese.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE BY RYOTARO SHIBA
`You are really carried away by Taiwan, aren't you?' Mr. Fumio Anabuki, the editor-in-chief, said to me with a sense of amusement. As an individual sensitive to pain, or with a feeling of sympathy, I am anxious about the future of Taiwan. (Of course, I am more concerned about Japan, but I believe that someday Japan's politics can recover from its exhaustion.)
Taiwan since the 17th century, with the exception of its indigenous people, has been a land without a sovereign, populated by a group of `boat people.' It was just like the Japanese islands before the time of Christ, which served as a land for Asian boat people. For 50 years after 1895, Taiwan was under Japanese rule. According to Mr. Tadao Umesao, Japan was a `multiracial nation' during this period. We almost forgot that, until the secession of Taiwan in 1945, those Taiwanese who were born and educated in Taiwan were really Japanese. Even Chiu Yong-han, who is very critical of modern Japan, refers to these 50 years in Taiwan history as a period `without which, Taiwan island would have been the same as nearby Hainan island.'
After the separation from Japan, Taiwan was taken over by `the Republic of China.' To our surprise, the Taiwanese were severely oppressed. Before long, a humanitarian organization headquartered in London designated the more than 10 million Taiwanese as an `ethnic minority' who were discriminated against and oppressed because of their ethnic origin. Although they were Chinese in origin, the 50-year period of Japanese rule transformed them into an ethnic group different from other Chinese, so different that they became the victims of Chinese oppressors.
`I want to make this a country where people can sleep at night in peace,' said Dr. Lee Teng-hui, the first Taiwanese to be head of state. His wish has not changed.
For a period after the war, people were afraid of attack by their own state. That period is over. The era of the Chiang family came to an end and, to everybody's surprise, Dr. Lee Teng-hui took office as president.
It was almost a miracle that during this transition period, there were no bullets nor intrigues. As freely as shoppers in a department store move from one sales area to another, Lee Teng-hui as the vice president, with the death of Chiang Ching-kuo, assumed the presidency in conformity with the Constitution. That was in January 1988, only six years ago. If Clio (the goddess of history in Greek mythology) smiles only once on each country, this was Taiwan's time.
Previously, President Lee aspired to enter the ministry `to go to mountainous regions to preach the gospel.' Things did not turn out that way.
Fortunately, Taiwan has a sophisticated head of state who has little desire for fame and wealth. Some wondered whether such a person could manage politics in a world in which mainlanders, outsiders from continental China, were granted special rights and privileges, and held control over Islanders. However, as Lee Teng-hui demonstrated his political management skills, such concerns disappeared.
This interview is intended as a supplement to `Travel Notes from Taiwan.' I particularly want to see it read by mainland Chinese.
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A CIVILIZED COUNTRY BORN OF AN ISLAND WITHOUT A RULER
Shiba. This year at the banquet for my school reunion, I chatted about my trip to Taiwan with instructors of the Chinese, Russian, and German languages. My conclusion was that `Taiwan is a civilized country.'
Taiwan has a lot of advanced technologies, of course, but they alone do not represent what I would call a civilization. Let me cite an age old metaphor. Every morning at 5, you find your milk in your milk box. You do not need to buy a cow and milk it every time you need milk. Without being killed by guerrillas on the way, a milkman can deliver milk safely. You can get a newspaper in the morning without any problem and can read information from all over the world. This is what I call `civilization.'
Such a thing exists in Taiwan and is being further developed. But if France is considered a mature country, like a 100-something-year old person, then democratic Taiwan is still a baby country, like a five- or six-year old child. Compared to Mr. Mitterand, I suspect, you, Mr. Lee Teng-hui, should be enjoying more and at the same time suffering more because you were born in Taiwan.
Lee. When I asked my wife what topic I should be talking about with Mr. Shiba, she told me to talk about `the grief of being born a Taiwanese.' We then talked about `the Exodus' of the Old Testament.
Shiba. It is God who decides where we will be born. Today I would like to talk with the president about the `suffering caused by location.' For instance, it would be very hard to be born in Bosnia today. However, I believe that human dignity can be found in the efforts made by those who are born in Bosnia to improve the situation.
Lee. Yet there is also the pain of not being able to do anything for Bosnia. There used to be the grief of being born a Taiwanese and not being able to do anything for Taiwan.
Shiba. By the way, the island of Taiwan was once considered to belong to no one.
I believe that colonizing other countries is a really absurd thing to do. In Meiji 7 [1874] there was an incident in which an Okinawan was killed on the east coast of Taiwan. The Meiji government wondered which country owned Taiwan. Boisonard, a French attorney who was working for the Japanese government, reported that the island of Taiwan belonged to no one. Long before this, an American diplomat, Townsend Harris, visited Taiwan and wrote a letter to the president of the United States. He stated that no one owned its eastern half and therefore the United States should make it an American territory.
Lee. After being defeated by the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War, the first thing China under Li Hong Zhang ceded to Japan was Taiwan. For the Chinese, Taiwan was considered a barbarous land. If Japan got it, she might even have trouble controlling it. Such was the prevailing attitude.
Shiba. At that time the Japanese government notified the inhabitants that those who were not content could move out. For Japan, at a time of violence in her history, it was a relatively civil gesture to the residents.
Lee. Those who wanted to obtain Japanese nationality were told they could stay. Individual property would be recognized as such. Those not satisfied were told to return to the mainland within a year.
Then came the end of World War II. In accordance with the Declaration of Cairo, all the territories that Japan received from China, including Taiwan, were to be returned to China.
Shiba. That's curious when you consider that Taiwan was built by people who had come from Fujian and Guangdong in the 17th century.
Lee. I must answer that question cautiously because I am the President of the Republic of China. The Japanese government returned Taiwan to the government of the Republic of China. The government of the Republic of China was defeated in the civil war on the mainland and, therefore, came to Taiwan. It lost everything except Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party insists that the province of Taiwan is just one of the provinces comprising the People's Republic of China. What a weird fantasy. Taiwan and the mainland have different governments. I can only say this for now.
Shiba. There is no other word as confusing as the word `Zhonghua' [China].
Lee. The word `Zhongguo' [China] is confusing too.
Shiba. Also the word `Zhongguoren' [Chinese] is confusing. When Singapore's leader,
Lee Kuan Yew went to Australia, he was reported to have said that `just as today's Australians do not consider themselves British, we are not Chinese. We are Singaporeans.'
Germans and Swedes are both of Germanic origin. But when Germans go to Sweden they do not sell goods by saying, `you and I are both of Germanic origin, aren't we?' Spanish people do not go to France and claim friendship based on their shared Roman origin. Taiwan is the country for Taiwanese, even though we are Han people.
BEIJING'S ORIENTALISM AND THE CONCEPT OF `PUBLIC'
Lee. It must be for Taiwanese. This is the fundamental idea.
Since the 19th century the notion of sovereignty has been discussed. However, the word sovereignty is a dangerous word. The mainland insists that the People's Republic of China has the right to Taiwan because it succeeded the Republic of China.
Shiba. Considering the size of the country, the Beijing government has done pretty well. However, the People's Republic of China has not had the experience of being a civil society or governed by rule of law. That is why the Tiananmen Square incident happened. China claims Taiwan as its own. This represents an oriental style of thinking dating back to the 19th century when no distinction was made between a territory and a land of mixed residents.
Lee. If I have a chance to meet Mr. Jiang Ze Ming, I would like to say to him, `before you raise the questions of Taiwan policy and national integration, try studying to find out what Taiwan is all about.' If you are thinking of governing the Taiwanese people in the style you used in the old days, you would see another 2.28 [February 28, 1947] Incident.
Shiba. It seems that Chinese leaders have not thought, within the context of world history, what Taiwan is all about.
It does not make sense from the residents' point of view for China to keep Tibet and Inner Mongolia as part of its territory. Mr. Mao Ze Dong's policies for minorities were good as an idea. But in reality, I hear that residents in Inner Mongolia and Tibet are going through a tough time. If that is repeated in Taiwan, it will be a calamity of human history and of world history.
Lee. It is constantly said that if Taiwan becomes independent, China will attack and crush us.
Shiba. I hope that the good life led by the people in Taiwan will not be destroyed suddenly by outside forces.
Lee. If Taiwan declares independence, Beijing should be scared because Tibet or Xinjiang might then act for independence as well.
Shiba. The Ming dynasty's China was a country purely of Han people. You could find no Xinjiang Uighur autonomous district, no Tibet, no Inner Mongolia in China's territory. It was during the Qing dynasty, the one ruled by a non-Han people, when China expanded to today's territorial stretch.
The government on the mainland should have asked the will of the residents from the beginning. It should have listened to the Tibetans, the Mongolians, and the Uighurs. Without the strength or the idea to ask the will of these residents, it simply inherited and kept the territory of the Qing dynasty.
There is an appropriate size for a nation state. It is probably about the size of France, which is about the size of the province of Sichuan. France has created a civilization. It is impossible for one government in Beijing to control a territory larger than all of Europe. It tends to become ruthless and domestically imperialistic.
Lee. On the mainland now, they are advocating nationalism. It is called the five ethnic groups, and Xinjiangs, Mongolians, and Tibetans are categorized as Chinese. I am concerned that if Beijing tries to create a great Chinese ethnic group or a Great Chinese Empire, Asia can face serious problems.
Shiba. According to that idea, it would not be contradictory for the Great Chinese Empire to include Japan, which uses Chinese characters, and Thailand and Indonesia, which have a lot of overseas Chinese. By the way, Sung and Ming were representative dynasties ruled by the Han race. Later dynasties were created by people other than Han such as the ancient Tang, Yuan, and Qing dynasties. There were always groups of opposition in the periphery, and when China became corrupt from the inside, the non-Hans took over to create a new dynasty to bring reform. Today there are no opposition groups. Where can we find China's ability to renew itself? If China relies on the Great Chinese Empire, it will definitely collapse by itself.
In addition, the Chinese do not believe the world belongs to the public. Even those who came after Mao Ze Dong do not have that concept. Every emperor in Chinese history was convinced that the world belonged to himself or herself. Mr. Mao Ze Dong could not have even begun an absurdity such as the Proletarian Great Cultural Revolution without thinking that the world belonged to himself [i.e., the world obeyed his decrees].
Deng Xiao Ping is trying to establish a socialist market economy, which is a queer combination of two different systems. I think he is a great politician, but the socialism he advocates, after all, seems to imply that China belongs to Mr. Deng Xiao Ping.
We could say that it is the greatness of the Chinese people that enables them to practice such a contradiction without hesitation. Yet, on the other hand, it shows that Sun Yat-sen's idea `all land under heaven belongs to the public' has not been well rooted in China.
By the way, I learned something that really surprised me when talking to young Taiwanese. In the primary and junior high schools, they must memorize the names of all the emperors, starting from the ancient San-Huang-Wu-Di (three emperors and five kings) to the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, Emperor Xuan Tong. They recite them all. I found it meaningless.
Lee. Today we are increasing the importance of local history education. We are trying to incorporate the history of Taiwan, the geography of Taiwan, and the search of the individual's roots in the curriculum of the elementary schools. What an absurd educational system it was that made students memorize facts regarding the mainland without teaching them about Taiwan.
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TAIWANESE LANGUAGE AND SHAKESPEARE
Shiba. We could not make such a statement in Taiwan five years ago. Taiwan has really been transformed into a new country.
Lee. It was even difficult to speak Taiwanese. When my son was in school, a student would be punished for speaking Taiwanese, just like when people were punished for speaking Taiwanese during Japanese rule. Only Chinese was allowed to be spoken.
Now I take the lead in speaking Taiwanese. It is necessary to do so. When I traveled during the election campaign, I always spoke in Taiwanese.
Shiba. You mean in Minnan [Southern Fukienese, Taiwan's local language]?
Lee. Yes. That is what the Taiwanese want to hear. For instance, if you go to Yunlin prefecture, the people there have their own local dialect. If you make a speech in their own dialect, everyone can understand. Try speaking in Chinese, it is Greek to them. But if you speak in Taiwanese they believe you are a person who is close to them.
Shiba. More than 70 percent of English words are actually of French origin. But it is said that poetry using too many French words sounds affected. On the other hand, if you write a poem using only the ancient original English, it can be very moving.
Lee. Just like Shakespeare.
Shiba. In Japan, for instance, the dormitory song for the Third High School in Kyoto, `Red Flowers in the Bud,' was written in the Yamato language [native style Japanese] whereas the song for the First High School, `Oh, the Jewel Sake Cup with a Flower Leaf,' was written in the Chinese classical style of Japanese. Some say it is the `Red Flowers in the Bud' that appeals to them more and is harder to forget. For Taiwanese people, the Taiwanese language is just like the Yamato language and thus appeals to people's feelings.
Lee. Taiwan has always been ruled by power that came from abroad. Today I say this kind of thing without hesitation. Even the Nationalists are a foreign power. They are nothing more than a political party that came to rule the Taiwanese. We must make this a Taiwanese Nationalist Party. Once there was a time when we, my generation who are in our seventies, could not sleep well at night. I do not want my descendants to face the same situation.
Shiba. Mr. Lee Teng-hui, your nationality changed from Japanese to Chinese [a national of the Republic of China] at the age of 22.
In those days, I heard, intellectuals could not sleep at night in peace. Military policemen made raids. You heard them banging the door. If you wondered who they were, you were too late. You just had to run away immediately. Even with all these hardships, Taiwan has finally achieved a high standard of freedom and a system governed by law that, to our delight, is unprecedented in the history of the Han people.
Lee. Mainlanders are also Han people. It is just a matter of who came to Taiwan earlier. We should work together. There is no need for Taiwanese to reject these people, but this is difficult. For instance, this issue is related to the question of why the previous head of the Executive Yuan had to be replaced.
Shiba. You are talking about Mr. Hau Pei-tsun [the former premier]. He is an old fox of a politician who was previously in the military. He seems to have always been a tough bird to cook. I was always nervous watching someone like you, someone who is almost like a clergyman. I wanted to keep that kind of man away from the world of power. But, in your case, it has worked.
Lee. I still have two years and three months in my term of office. I aspire to build a nation state and a society for `the public.'
When I spoke to the minister of transportation, he told me that the expansion work of Chung-cheng International Airport was not progressing satisfactorily. If we proceed with the second phase of construction, we may face the same sorts of problems as Narita Airport. There is the noise pollution problem, and opposition from the residents in the neighborhood is increasing. What should we do?
In Taiwan today, people are very enthusiastic about community activities. I want to see the residents, who have been oppressed for a long time, participate in building the country and the society voluntarily. To do that, people should talk about the various problems of daily life in their communities: about homes, about women's participation in the society. They also cooperate to prevent burglary in the neighborhood.
As for the airport issue, I have had several discussions with local residents. There are two villages surrounding the airport. The urban planning of the villages has to be redrawn and the interior of the airport has to be redesigned. We will let the local residents decide on the issues ranging from airport cleaning and luggage handling to the restaurant operations. The important thing is that the airport belongs to the people.
Amending the constitution, democratic reform and holding a popular and direct presidential election will satisfy the Taiwanese. If these things are realized, then Taiwan's major political problems are over.
There are three problems concerning Taiwan that are bothering Beijing's political leaders. First is the democratization of Taiwan. If we rigorously pursue democratization, it will become impossible to govern the country through talks between the leaders of the Nationalist and the Communist Parties. It will become impossible to ignore the people at large on both sides. There are shameless people who write to Deng Xiao Ping asking him to use the military against Taiwan.
ASTONISHING THE WORLD BY THE COUNTRIES I CHOOSE TO VISIT
Shiba. I often heard that a country is marketable just like a commodity, which can be bought and sold. Things are not easy for Taiwan, are they?
Lee. My foreign policy is the second issue. Not only have I been to three countries in Southeast Asia, I am going to visit more countries, even countries that the world will be totally surprised to see me visit. But I will save Japan and the United States for last.
Although I am the head of state now, I was originally an economist and agricultural expert. I can provide financial aid, but I can also hold a discussion. For example, both President Ramos of the Philippines and President Suharto of Indonesia are having the most difficult times on rural issues. I am a professional in dealing with agricultural issues. No one in Taiwan can talk about pork better than I. [Laughter] Therefore, I can talk to them not as President Lee but as Dr. lee. Titles do not matter. Through such pragmatic diplomacy, we can promote in a natural manner international understanding of Taiwan's role.
A third issue. Previously we used to advocate `the large army principle,' which depended solely on tanks. Recently we purchased quite a few fighter helicopters and fighter planes. Because our air force capability has been greatly strengthened, Taiwan's air force will not have to worry for another 30 years. The Chinese Communist Party is distressed by this structural change of our military strategy.
Shiba. Tanks are old fashioned, particularly to protect such a rice paddy country as Taiwan, unsettling as it may sound.
Lee. We hold a military meeting once every two weeks. Some professionals were amazed and said, `How can President Lee Teng-hui learn military issues and knowledge so quickly.' They even call me a military genius. [Laughter]
Shiba. What kind of books do you like to read in your spare time?
Lee. Recently I ordered from Iwanami [publisher] a series of books call `The Methods of Social Sciences.' I always think about whether the work I am pursuing now is theoretically sound and historically significant. It is biology that I really want to study. I would like to audit a class at Taiwan University. I am also interested in further study of philosophy and history.
When I retire, I am not going to be dependent on the government. I will live in my own house because I have some money saved and because my wife brought a dowry.
BEFORE SUCCEEDING CHIANG CHING-KUO
Shiba. You still have not spent it all? [Laughter]
Lee. Because my wife received a Japanese education, she is good at managing household accounts so I can relax and concentrate on my work.
[Editorial staff member]: Are you saying that the Japanese education was actually useful?
Lee. What the Japanese left in Taiwan at the end of the colonial era was enormous. In addition to criticizing it, we also have to analyze it from a more scientific viewpoint to understand our history better.
[Editorial staff member]: Was it by chance that someone like Mr. Lee Teng-hui entered the stage?
Shiba. It was Chiang Ching-kuo who took advantage of a chance.
Lee. I was called to participate when there were serious agricultural problems. I was a man who thought only about Japan's academic and agricultural issues; I guess I appeared to be uninterested in political affairs.
Shiba. Mr. Chiang Ching-kuo is someone I did not understand too well, but it seemed definite that, at last, he thought of installing Mr. Lee Ten-huo as vice president.
Lee. For three years and nine months he was the president and I was the vice president. I saw him once or twice a week and, later, when he became sick, there were times when I only saw him once a month. I have a notebook in which I recorded our conversations. I couldn't possibly make it public yet. Still, it is not clear whether Chiang Ching-kuo wanted me to succeed him.
Shiba. I see.
Lee. Although he suffered from a severe illness, he did not believe that the end was coming, therefore, he did not leave last words like a dying parent would leave for a son.
Shiba. It was ambiguous.
Lee. It was ambiguous. However, in that kind of political situation, if Mr. Chiang Ching-kuo had given even the slightest indication, I would have been destroyed. Even I am not going to mention whom I will pick for the next president. I will not even mention whether I
will run for election. Mr. Chiang Ching-kuo, too, had such consideration, I believe.
Shiba. It is amazing how you have developed political know-how, having been a scholar previously. Not only being a statesman, but also dealing with those political matters that are not straightforward.
Lee. I have been perceptive since my childhood. I have always thought about how to restrain my sensitivity. You know that saying, `Spongers ask for the third bowl of rice quietly.'
Shiba. This is a story from the time of the Cultural Revolution on mainland China. Bellboys at the Beijing Hotel were divided into two groups and started to fight against each other by occupying the staircase or corridors. Then came Mr. Zhou Enlai. Because China is not a country governed by law, strange things can happen. The Premier of the country came to solve the dispute between two fighting parties in a hotel. Mr. Zhou Enlai listened to what they had to say and then told them that both sides made sense. Then he said there was one thing in which they were both wrong. They asked, `What is it?' `The guests have not been served their dinners yet.' Seeking a solution after pleasing both contenders--this is what politics is about.
[Page: S9341]
THE EXODUS AND THE FATE OF THE TAIWANESE
Lee. Even without guns, without clenched fists, without any supportive group in the Nationalist Party, I believe the reason I have been able to come so far is because the voices of the people are in my heart. The people of Taiwan look to me with expectation. Thus I feel I have to produce results.
Shiba. Political scientists should choose Mr. Lee Teng-hui as an academic theme. In other words, just as you, Mr. Lee Teng-hui, have said, you have no faction in the party, nor money to offer. There is nothing else but Mr. Lee Teng-hui. Political scientists, however, say that politics cannot be practiced by theories alone because it is so dirty. If you leave a good record after another two and half years, you will be seen as a new model for political science in the world. You are a rare case.
[Editorial staff member]: At the beginning of this interview, you mentioned `the Exodus.' Were you trying to say that Taiwan has started a new era?
Lee. Yes, we have. From now on, Moses and the people are going to face a tough time. However, they did start a new journey. Yes, when I think about the 2.28 incident in which many Taiwanese became victims, `the Exodus' is one conclusion.
Shiba. There was something I was thinking about while writing the `Travel Notes from Taiwan.' In the last days of the Shogunate era, there was a chief retainer for the feudal clan of Nagaoka in Echigo called Tsugunosuke Kawai. It was a small clan whose taxes amounted to only 70,000 bushels of rice a year. Kawai searched for a way to revitalize the fiefdom for a new era. He traveled throughout Japan in search of a master. He finally found Hokoku Yamada, a former chief retainer, who was retiring from the world in the deep mountains in Okayama prefecture; he asked for instruction for a couple of months. When he was leaving for Nagaoka, he praised the master by saying, `you can become a head clerk of Mitsui.' The praised one [the master] was happy to hear that. In other words, in the very end of the Edo period in the mountains of Okayama, the master and his disciples had discussed the fact that the Samurai era was over and the bourgeoisie era was coming. After Kawai returned, he tried to reform the feudal clan's Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He tried not to take part either on the Tokugawa side nor for Satsuma or Choshu; he pursued armed independence. But he was pushed away by the violent flow of history--a great loss in Japanese history.
Although, in those days, Keinosuke Kawai was almost the only person (there is another person, Ryoma Sakamoto) who had an idea of a blueprint for a new nation state, history has forgotten about him. I always write with the hope that Taiwan's fate will be different and that it will become a model state for human beings.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. This interview, entitled `The Grief of Being Born a Taiwanese,' sheds light on positive new directions taken by the people of the Government of Taiwan.
I urge the administration to move to take positive steps as well in its policy review.
I personally discussed this matter with Secretary Christopher, who told me at a recent hearing that, while he could not foreshadow the results of the policy review, he said that he thought there would be adjustments in the direction I want to see.
Well, I would hope so, since it has been a year in coming out. Let us get it out now.
I thank the Chair and I wish her a good day.
I yield the floor.
Mr. GRAMM. Madam President, under the previous order I had 10 minutes and I ask unanimous consent, notwithstanding the previous order, to speak for 10 minutes in morning business. I see neither the chairman or ranking member is here.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from Texas is recognized.
END
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