[Pages S5396-S5398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

HISTORIC ADDRESS BY TAIWAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO THE EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT

Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, we live in a time when so many United
States leaders, both in and out of Government, are apprehensive lest
the so-called People's Republic of China be offended at the slightest
suggestion that the basic principles of justice, human rights, and
freedom should be applicable to the actions of the Communist leaders in
Beijing as well as to all the rest of us.
Mr. President, are the American people supposed to live in fear and
nervous anticipation when even the barest questions about Communist
China's conduct are raised? Are we supposed to pretend that the gross
violations of trade by Communist China are not happening every day? Are
we supposed to cringe in fear when the leaders in Beijing threaten the
destruction of San Francisco?
Surely the greatness of America is not to be diminished by the
bullying threats flowing from mainland China.
Mr. President, these thoughts came to my mind over the weekend when I
received from a prominent and respected American the text of an address
delivered on May 22, less than 3 weeks ago, before the European
Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.
Who delivered it? It was delivered by an honorable and distinguished
gentleman, John Chang, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of
China on Taiwan. My purpose in being here this afternoon is to express
my hope that every Senator will read the text of Mr. Chang's remarks,
and, while doing so, compare his rhetoric with that flowing constantly
from mainland China.
For that reason, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text
of Mr. Chang's address be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the speech was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:

TEXT OF JOHN CHANG'S ADDRESS IN BRUSSELS

Mr. Chairman Spencer, distinguished members of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense Policy,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you all so much for inviting me to speak to you at
this very very prestigious forum today. It is truly a great
honor not only for my humble self, but also for my
government, the Republic of China which is now located on an
island called Taiwan. Allow me first of all to convey to each
and every one of you the warmest greetings and gratitude from
21.3 million people living in Taiwan. We deeply appreciated
this opportunity that our story can finally be directly told
and better understood to our respectable members of the
European Parliament.
I was told that over the past years, the Dalai Lama of
Tibet, Mr. Arafat of PLO and Mr. Mandela of ANC etc., all had
been invited to this forum to exchange views with you over
their issues. The situation that the Republic of China on
Taiwan faces today is totally different from theirs, but
there is one thing in common, it is that we all need the fair
attention of the world and we all have to appeal to
international justice.
It took me about 20 hours to fly over from Taipei to
Brussels, the day before yesterday, yet it has taken my
government, the Republic of China, more than twenty-five
years to be finally given an important international platform
like this today to have our voice heard, to have our humble
views shared, and to have our story faithfully told.
It is sad to point out that our freedom of speech as a
sovereign state, has long been deprived of from almost all
international organizations since 1971, the year when we were
forced out of the UN, simply because of mainland China's
untrue position that there is but one China on earth, which
is the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of China
on Taiwan is one of their provinces. The sheer existence of
one able, prosperous, vigorous and democratic government
called the Republic of China, has been for nearly a quarter-
century, veiled in thick political fog of world politics. The
truth about my country, the truth about my people have all
been flagrantly distorted and badly twisted. And the rights
of my government as a sovereign state have subsequently been
brutally neglected, ignored and even totally denied in the
world affairs arena for decades.
The Republic of China was established in 1912 by a
successful revolution led by Dr. Sun Yet-sen, which overthrew
the Ching Dynasty. Dr. Sun Yet-sen was educated in the United
States, and he had widely toured the European continent and
did his research at the British Empire Library in London for
a number of years before he returned to China to lead
the revolution. Europe has evidently very much to do with
the birth of a modern China. Actually the link between
Europe and China, I mean the ancient China, was forged
centuries ago.
When any scholar talks about the early contacts between
Europe and Cathay, he can never afford to forget to mention
two prominent European figures, one is, of course, Marco
Polo, the other, Matteo Ricci. Both of them are Italians, the
former a legendary merchant, the latter a Jesuit missionary,
and they were 300 years apart. Marco Polo traveled with his
father and uncle from Venice to China in 1271, when
Mongolians were ruling China. He had spent 24 years in China.
Matteo Ricci came to China under Ming Dynasty in 1583, he
lived in China for thirty years and died there. The great
differences between the two great Italians lie in the fact
that the trader Marco Polo succeeded in introducing the old
Cathay to Europe, yet the missionary Matteo Ricci did things
another way around, he introduced Europe to China, not only
her culture, science, but the religion of Christianity. The
most important contribution that Marco Polo ever rendered was
his bringing back to Europe such Chinese inventions as the
compass, paper-making, paper money and printing. Many
historians believe that Marco Polo's book entitled
``Description of the World'' may have influenced many
explorers, including Christopher Columbus. By citing this
portion of history, I intend simply to stress that how close
once we were together in the past, and we certainly would be
even closer in the future.
A few minutes ago I pointed out that the Republic of China
was established in 1912 after a revolution strongly motivated
by a new tide of political thought of Europe. It was the
first Republic in entire Asia. The ensuing thirty years for
the new Republic were all turbulent and chaotic. Only after
the end of World War II, the new Republic got a very short
breathing period. But it was already too late, the entire
nation became fully exhausted by the eight-year Sino-Japanese
war from 1937 to 1945. The Chinese Communists seized the
opportunity to engage a civil war against the nationalist
government of KMT led by late Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
The Communists won the war in 1949, consequently, the
government of the Republic of China was then moved from the
Chinese mainland to the island of Taiwan with her
Constitution which was promulgated in 1947.
In 1949 when the government of the Republic of China was
relocated on Taiwan, she remained to be the legitimate
government of whole China with a majority of nations in the
UN supporting this claim diplomatically, the number was 47
out of 59. As the membership of the UN grew up to exactly 100
in 1960, the number of nations which maintained diplomatic
ties with the Republic of China on Taiwan was 53, still a
majority support in the world organization. Her diplomatic
relations reached a peak ten years later in 1970 with 67
nations formally recognizing her, and the membership of the
UN was 126, yet the following year in 1971, a drastic down-
turn took place, because of the change of attitude of the US
vis-a-vis her relationship with the PRC. The seat of a
founding member of the UN, the Republic of China was
unprecedently replaced by a relatively young regime, the
People's Republic of China which was created in 1949, 38
years junior to the ROC. What was truly in question as an
issue at the UN in 1971 was not the Republic of China's
legitimacy as a sovereign state which was so challenged
and defeated, but it was her representation right which
she insisted, should cover the entire China, including the
Chinese mainland over which she was not exercising
jurisdiction. It was her ``representation right'' that she
lost, not her sovereignty as a state. Around the end of
1971, after the UN fiasco, the number of states which
recognized Republic of China on Taiwan dropped from 67 to
54. It was an admitted failure for the Republic of China
in her battle with the People's Republic of China over the
so-called

[[Page S5397]]

``Chinese representation right'' issued in the UN. Yet
this does not mean at all as the PRC has ever so alleged
that the Republic of China has lost in the battle at UN
together with her statehood. This allegation is absolutely
groundless, untrue and absurd in accordance with
international law.
There is no denial that after our forced departure from the
United Nations, the Republic of China on Taiwan has become
more and more isolated internationally. Yet the frustration
on the international front has never hampered the iron will
and firm determination of the people and government of the
Republic of China to move on forward to effectively develop
our economy and to enhance our democracy.
Twenty years ago, in 1976, our total trade volume was $15.6
billion US dollars; last year, 1996, our export import trade
volume reached $217.2 billion US dollars, with a surplus
$14.7 billion US dollars. The Republic of China has been
fortunate and had a 6% annual growth for the past ten years,
bringing our per capita gross national product to $12,000.
Exports have made our economy. Today the Republic of China is
a leading producer of electronics, computers and other
industrial products. Today we are selling the world disk
drives, monitors, notebooks and modems. To give you an
example: last year, we had $11.6 billion in computer-hardware
production. We are the largest computer manufacturer in the
world after the United States, Japan and Germany.
Our trade with the European Union has grown rapidly in a
very encouraging way in the past three years. The volume grew
from $23 billion in 1994 to $29.5 billion in 1995 and $31.3
billion in 1996.
Of our European trading partners, Germany enjoys the
highest volume of $8.6 billion, followed by the Netherlands
with $5.2 billion, UK $4.6 billion, France $4.2 billion and
Italy $2.6 billion. And Belgium is our 7th trading partner
with a volume of $1.32 billion, after Switzerland of $1.75
billion, ahead of Sweden of $1.13 billion. My government has
attached great importance to our trade with the European
Union as a whole in the past; we will continue to do the same
in the future.
Our focus on high technology and electronic exports has
been a success. In less than 50 years, Taiwan ranks as the
world's 20th largest economy with a gross national product of
$275 billion. We are the 13th largest trading nation in
the world and have accumulated world's third largest
reserves of foreign exchange. Yet we are not a member of
the UN.
We have come a long way in terms of political achievements.
It was not very long ago that ``Martial Law'' was still in
effect and minimal contacts were allowed between us and our
compatriots on the Chinese Mainland. In 1987, just 10 years
ago, the late president Chiang Ching-kuo lifted the marshal
law and allowed the major opposition party--Democratic
Progressive Party--to form. President Chiang also eliminated
the restrictions and bans on newspapers, public assembly and
demonstrations.
President Chiang's decision to lift martial law laid the
foundation of a series of additional political reforms
beginning in the early 1990s. President Chiang passed away in
1988, and was immediately succeeded by President Lee Teng-
Huei in accordance with our Constitution. It was President
Lee who charted all those extremely important reforms in the
90's. The National Assembly amended our Constitution to allow
the government to hold all-Taiwan elections to replace
Assembly members and lawmakers who had not faced their
electorate for more than 40 years. In 1991, the first all-
Taiwan National Assembly was elected, seating 325 members.
The Assembly further amended the Constitution in 1992 and
1994 to shorten the terms of office of the president and
Assembly members from six years to four. Most importantly,
the amended Constitution allowed our President to be elected
by all voting age citizens in the ROC's jurisdiction in 1996.
On March 23, 1996, Dr. Lee Teng-Huei defeated three other
presidential rivals and became the first popularly-elected
President of the Republic of China. In the five thousand
years of Chinese history, this was the first time that the
Chinese people were able to elect their head of state
directly. The legitimacy of the government of the Republic of
China on Taiwan was rightfully strengthened. The fact that
the government of the Republic of China is fully exercising
her sovereignty and jurisdiction over the area of Taiwan
island has become absolutely indisputable in whatever de jure
sense.
President Lee Teng-Huei has rapidly transformed Taiwan's
old single-party government into a working democracy. He has
successfully orchestrated a quiet revolution, bringing new
freedoms to his people. This transformation was achieved in
quiet manner. There have been no class confrontations, no
military coup and no political suppression in Taiwan. The
process of reform in Taiwan was unique and unprecedented.
Taiwan now has a multi-party system and has realized the
ideal of popularly-elected government. We have a total
respect for individual freedom and this is clearly the most
free and liberal era in Chinese history. Free speech is fully
protected; all types of government controls over society have
been relaxed or eliminated. We are now an open, pluralistic
and free society. Our government has taken upon itself to
defend and protect the fundamental human rights of every
citizen. But unfortunately, many countries in the world still
indulge themselves in the lie brazenly told by the PRC that
the government of the Republic of China does not exist.
Despite our economic strength and political liberalization,
we have formal diplomatic ties with only 30 nations in the
world, even though we enjoy substantive relations with all
major countries. We feel hurt and neglected, because we have
not been accorded proper recognition by the world community.
Since the late 80's we have been pragmatic in our foreign
relations. We try to hold on to our friend and seek new
friends and new ``connections'' whenever possible. So far
this new pragmatism has served us well. I have to emphasize
here that this new approach on our foreign relations has
nothing to do with the so-called ``Independence of Taiwan''.
Taiwan is the name of an area or the name of a province where
the government of the Republic of China is situated. Taiwan
is not a name of a nation, nor the name of my government.
It's simply a geographical term. Since on the island of
Taiwan or in the area of Taiwan, there has long been a
sovereign government called the Republic of China, there is
absolutely no sense for us to try to create another state on
Taiwan. What we have been seeking for in the international
community is a better recognition of the government of the
Republic of China which she deserves to have.
It is true that the People's Republic of China maintains
that there is one China, and so do we. Yet we have different
interpretation of the ``One China''. Our position is rather
simple that the One China was divided in 1949, which remains
divided now. The international community should recognize the
fact of a divided China and treat the ROC government as a
sovereignty with effective jurisdiction over Taiwan and the
offshore islands under its control. The spirit of our
diplomacy of pragmatism is based on the acceptance of the
fact that PRC is the political entity which has firm and
effective control of the Chinese mainland area, and at the
same time Taiwan area is under the tight control and legal
jurisdiction of my government. We will not compete with the
PRC on the ``representation right'' issue. On international
relations, they may well represent the mainland, and we
represent Taiwan area. Hence, one China with two separate
political entities is a reality no one can deny and a fact
that the world must deal with realistically.
Just as East and West Germany enjoyed simultaneously
membership in the United Nations before their reunification,
Republic of China should be allowed to participate in the
world organizations with the PRC. A membership for Taiwan
would definitely bring about more peaceful contacts between
Taiwan and the mainland and further help pave the way for the
reunification of a ``One China''. In short, like Korea, PRC
and ROC on Taiwan deserve recognition. While developing our
relations abroad, we hold no hostility with PRC at all, any
move in expanding our breathing space in the world community
is not aiming at mainland China at all. We simply want to be
treated as what we are. We want to be treated no more than
what we deserve to have.
Mr. Chairman, as the Republic of China's foreign minister,
I would like to stress and also clarify a few points,
which might be of interest to you and to your colleagues:
1. Both the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People's
Republic of China on mainland believe in One China. The
government of the Republic of China, and the political party
in power, KMT, repudiates Taiwan independence.
2. One China does not mean the People's Republic of China.
Beijing argues that ``there is only one China and only the
PRC has sovereignty rule over China; therefore Taiwan is part
of PRC.'' We believe that PRC leaders represent a political
authority, not single China. Communist China does not equate
to the China. China is still now divided and governed by two
separate governments; the PRC and the ROC, each having its
own jurisdiction and sovereignty over its own areas.
3. Beijing should openly renounce the use of force against
Taiwan and resume talks and dialogues with us. Beijing must
give peace a chance. All issues can be discussed. President
Lee has indicated his willingness to travel to Beijing or
anywhere else to hold talks with Communist leaders.
4. Both Chinese societies can benefit from more direct
economic, social and cultural exchanges. In fact our
investments in the mainland in the last ten years have
amounted to more than $25 billion. Our investments have
enabled the mainland to build foreign exchange reserves and
created jobs. Influx of our capital has improved living
standards and relieved poverty and backwardness among the
mainland Chinese population.
5. Beijing should accept us as an equal partner. We seek to
have better relations with the mainland. We do not want to
see Chinese fighting Chinese, not in Taiwan Strait, nor on
international arena, but rather Chinese helping Chinese. Our
compatriots on the mainland and we share a common ethnic
bond.
6. In Taiwan there is no support for a reckless or
precipitate reunification with the mainland at the moment,
certainly not under the terms of formula set forth by the
PRC, such as the so-called ``One State, Two Systems''
Formula, which definitely is inapplicable and unacceptable to
ROC on Taiwan.
7. We will continue our ``pragmatic diplomacy'' which means
that we will seek friends and allies everywhere and want the
world to know that we exist. We will seek to expand

[[Page S5398]]

our trade and cultural offices in over 150 countries and
regions, in addition to the 30 nations that have formal ties
with us. We will also seek to join international
organizations, including the UN, and her peripheral
organizations, because we have so much to contribute to the
world;
8. Our ultimate goal is for the world to recognize us as a
full member of the international community. We are well aware
how important and difficult the process of reintegration into
the international community will be for Taiwan. However, we
have the resources and commitment that will allow us to
make our positive contribution to peace, prosperity and
good will in the world.
9. We will take full responsibility for our own destiny,
but we believe that as an economically prosperous and
democratically free nation seeking its proper place in the
world, we can expect the nations of the world, particularly
the European nations to assist us in this task.
10. We are prepared, too, to shoulder our share of
responsibility for helping and assisting other nations,
including mainland China, not in the spirit of paternalism or
dominance but mutual cooperation and respect.
Looking forward towards the 21st century, I foresee a
vibrant Republic of China actively promoting economic and
trade cooperation with all regions around the world, but with
emphasis on two areas--members of the Association of
Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) and the mainland China. This
type of economic and trade cooperation will strengthen the
regional economic infrastructure and will stimulate the flow
of resources throughout the region, leading to further
economic growth as we seek to become an Asia-Pacific regional
operation center by the year 2000.
While pursuing economic growth and strength, the perfection
of our democratic system remains to be our most cherished and
most urged goal in our national policy. We firmly believe
that no country could ever become a truly great country until
it becomes fully democratic.
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, with your
understanding, sympathy and genuine support, as a democratic
and sovereign state, in the midst of challenges, unfair,
unequal treatments and tests of all kind, we, the Republic of
China on Taiwan, shall rise up again.
I thank you all so much.

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