MORE BEIJING THREATS -- HON. DAVID FUNDERBURK (Extension of Remarks - September 28, 1995) --- HON. DAVID FUNDERBURK in the House of Representatives THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1995
- Mr. FUNDERBURK. Mr. Speaker, earlier in the year the House shamelessly handed the aging rulers of Communist China another bloodless victory. The House, the Senate, and the President gleefully renewed legislation granting most favored nation trading status to Red China.
- I said then and I say now that kowtowing to the old boys in Beijing is a stain on American honor. Communist China has murdered millions. It runs the world's most sinister and extensive gulag. Its slave camps turn out textiles which put people in my State out of business. It continues systematic persecution of religious and political dissidents. The Beijing rulers even had the gall to arrest Chinese American freedom fighter Harry Wu and then threaten retaliation against American interests because we allowed the President of the Republic of China--free China--to visit the United States.
- Mr. Speaker, as if that were not enough, there is another facet to the Chinese problem which is potentially more ominous than all of the Chinese crimes which I have cataloged. The Chinese are engaged in the most aggressive military modernization program of any nation in the world. They are building and buying a blue water navy. They have recently completed a series of offensive missile tests off the coast of Taiwan.
- Taiwan poses no military threat to the Beijing dictators. There is only one reason for the Communists to embark on a missile buildup. They are deathly afraid that free China, with its robust markets and its expanding democracy, will provide the world with a stark contrast to the crimes and deficiencies of the Communist dictatorship. They believe that their missile tests will intimidate free China and force it off the world stage. Of course, they don't understand the mettle of free people.
- Mr. Speaker, our State Departmemt has turned a blind eye to the threat posed to all of Asia by Beijing. While the Communists arm, Foggy Bottom does business as usual. Enough is enough. It is time to finally take a stand for freedom and draw a line in the sand against Communist aggression before its too late for our friends on Taiwan and across Asia.
- Mr. Speaker, I have included for the House's review a chronology of Beijing's latest series of threats against free China.
Background: September 30, 1994, President Lee Teng-hui of the Republic of China told the Wall Street Journal that he was willing to meet with PRC leaders to discuss relations between the ROC and the PRC. Beijing said no.
January 30, 1995, PRC leader Jiang Zemin issued an eight-point plan for future bilateral relations between the mainland and Taiwan,
April 8, 1995, President Lee formally responded to President Jiang's eight points with a six-point counterproposal.
May 22, 1995, bowing to Congressional pressure, President Clinton decided to allow President Lee to visit Lee's alma mater, Cornell University.
June 9, 1995, President Lee delivered the Olin Speech at Cornell University.
July 21, through 26, 1995, PRC forces staged ballistic missile exercises near Taiwan. The missiles were all MTCR class, four short range and two intermediate range. All were modern, mobile nuclear-capable. The tests in the open sea 80 miles from Taiwan forced the closure of fisheries and the diversion of commercial flights. The Taiwan stock market promptly plunged 6.8 percent amid jitters about a Chinese attack.
August 15 through 25, 1995, PRC forces resumed military exercises in the Taiwan Strait. A second round of guided missile tests. Firings of guided missiles and live artillery shells in the East China Sea north of Taiwan. The tests zone off Zhejiang is a few miles north of the area where China's military test-fired six surface-to-surface missiles from July 21 through July 26.
In addition, PRC launched strong personal attacks on President Lee Teng-hui. PRC's People's Daily (overseas edition), in four separate commentaries, called Lee stubborn, insisting on separating Taiwan from the motherland, creating two China's employing `money diplomacy,' `vacation diplomacy' and `alumni diplomacy.' Lee is a traitor and an advocate of Taiwan independence.
President Lee's response to the PRC: In a September 1 interview with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, President Lee makes clear that `he is not seeking internationally recognized independence for Taiwan . . .
- desire to . . . resume the quiet dialogue that had been going on between Beijing and Taipei. . . .'
- Results of the missile tests and personal attacks on Lee: Fear and panic throughout Taiwan. The stock market plummeted to a 20-month low. Land prices sagged. Also, the Taiwan dollar has hit a 4-year low of 27.36 to the U.S. dollar.
- PRC's motives: cutting support for President Lee Teng-hui and creating tensions in the Taiwan Straits before the island's December parliamentary elections and next March's presidential elections. Warning Taipei not to try to raise its world status such as returning to the United Nations or practicing `pragmatic diplomacy.'
- PRC threats continue: The worst nightmare in Asia is a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. PRC regards Taiwan as a renegade province, and repeatedly warns that it reserves the right to use force to recover Taiwan.
- Clinton administration's response to China's escalation of its war of nerves against Taiwan has been nearly non-existent. Wall Street Journal (8/17/95) warns that if the administration `continues to treat the threats to Taiwan with nonchalance, it will risk new political instability in a region that has been the major contributor to global economic growth.'
- What is needed now? Wall Street Journal (8/17/95) calls for the Seventh Fleet to patrol the area: `The U.S. has held back out of fear of seeming provocative over what looked like a shadow boxing exercise. But that has sent the wrong message, as China's escalation of the tests has demonstrated.
END