Affairs Committee Member looks at what the relations mean for u. S. Taiwan relations. Hello. Welcome everyone. Im walter logan. Im director of the Asian Studies center here at the heritage foundation. I really appreciate all of you coming out, thank you. I want to thank rustle shou for partnering with us on this program today. Im so glad we could work this out. You know, there was a little election over the weekend. I dont know if everyone noticed, but judging by the turnout, perhaps you did. You know, at the outset here i just want to say a couple of things about the elections in taiwan on saturday, just a couple, and turn it over to our guests and our Panel Speakers to offer real advice on it, real insight. First of all, i think that the election says more about taiwan than it says about anything else. I not only highlight that because i think we all are immediately moving to what this means for china. For all practical purposes, all practical purposes, taiwan is really not a part of china. So, why do we move immediately to talk about what this means for china . What it means most is that taiwan values the same things that the rest of the free world values. Its conducted its 7th president ial free election, 9th y election. Its a major accomplishment. Its becoming such a thing that it very merits congratulations us anymore. We have elections and the world doesnt congratulate us. Its become common place in taiwan and become common place because they value the same things we do. I think the elections do hold a message for china. And its more than just one country two systems years with midterm elections and the world does not congratulate us on having made this achievement but its commonplace in taiwan and become commonplace because they value the same things we do. I think the elections to hold a message for china and it is more than just one country, two systems which does get back to some of those fundamental issues. China needs to take a new approach to taiwan, one that recognizes where people in taiwan are on matters of taiwan sovereignty and taiwans relationship with china. Will they do that . We will hear from our guests in that regard and im very skeptical that they will because i think in beijing its an attitude they can predict the future and they understand the needs of history and that somehow history and economics will vindicate them in the long run and i think its an intellectual arrogant way to look at the future and what they need to do is look more closely at the demographics and the trends in taiwan and despite all odds that they will not do that i hope they will. The third thing i think that is election holds it holds lessons for u. S. Taiwan relations Going Forward it offers some new opportunities and the reelection and her position now and its slightly diminished but given the opportunity for u. S. And taiwan to move forward on some things in particular with ford on a freetrade agreement which i would say should be the number one priority in that relationship Going Forward right out of the gate out of the election because it coincides with the opportunity thats been created by that u. S. Side. Got a terrific group of people to talk to us about this today and we will start out with congressman ted, ted is the congressman from florida representing the Third District which he has done for seven years but more relevant to our task today i think is the fact that hes on the House CommitteeForeign Affairs related to asian pacific. Hes been a terrific friend and ally of the heritage foundation. Many of the thing takes here in washington focus on asia generally but specifically on taiwan and i dont know if youve heard of this news but congressman is in his final term because remarkably he is keeping a pledge that he was elected and i think that is terrific achievement and im proud of him for having done that. Having worked with him a little bit over the last few years i can tell you one year is putting time for him to make trouble. Im sure he will have a lot to do this coming year and im sure it will go out very strong so were happy to have him here today to talk to us about the specifics of the elections and what holds in store for u. S. Taiwan relations. Congressman. applause i appreciate it. Good morning everybody. I want to get my water ready here. My taiwanese friends weve developed a great relationship and we appreciate your hospitality on everything we have asked and done and you have always been there with taiwan and we appreciate it. Happy new year to everybody. I want to start off just saying congratulations to taiwans president for winning reelection reelection. Her election saturday speaks volumes on taiwans teacher and by winning with the largest margin ever recorded and beating her opponent by more than 18 points it sends a clear message where taiwan and the people of taiwan stand. They stand for liberty and freedom and democracy with no interference from any nation. The president is the modern Ronald Reagan of the asia region. Unfortunately china appears to dismiss the president s victory and her office and that is starting a dialogue with beijing on conditions that taiwan sovereignty and democracy are to be respected and chinas taiwans Affairs Office reiterated that dialogue must be predicated on the acknowledgment that taiwan is part of one china and chinas commitment to applying the one country to systems formula that is trying to be currently used to govern hong kong as a semi autonomous territory and keep in mind the protests in hong kong have brought about the devastation to the hong kong economy and world standings. It has changed the narrative of the Safe International hub for doing business, Business Travel, Business Travel and tourism have declined precipitously during the past seven months and unless things change in hong kong they will continue. It will take years for that economy to recover. China has to be wondering if that effort to take control of the judicial system and the dishonor the fiftyyear agreement that they had made between Great Britain and china was worth it. It was beijings growing influence in the legal system and the performance to handle the protests in hong kong that undoubtably energized the taiwanese people and the opposition to the proposal. China would be wise to apply the lessons they are learning and they are actively learning in hong kong to further actions against taiwan. That is, if you threaten ones freedom, democracy and sovereignty there will be a huge cost paid. Keep in mind the people of hong kong and much of the world realize that hong kong is a province of china. Thats pretty wellwritten. That was in the agreement in 1997 by Great Britain and china. By the people that made that commitment there was no question that hong kong is a province of china. Taiwan is not and has never been part of the prc or the Chinese Communist party. You guys know the history of how taiwan formed when shanghai left and went and they fought the civil war and lost and left to taiwan to develop a new nation. Its the vague policy and i blame our country and some of our leaders, policy of president nixon and carter and Henry Kissinger that allowed the one country to system cloud that confusing cloud of confusion to be maintained for too long. It is time to clear by this confusion before chinas actions escalates more tension in the region and gets to a flashpoint that we dont want to see, as they did in hong kong with the now infamous and misguided extradition law before it is too late. This is something no one wants. We seen enough conflict in this world it i will be 65 in april and ive seen enough conflict. This is something we should Work Together to diplomacy so that nations can prosper and of nations prosper their people prosper and people prosper we are safer. China has accused president tsai ingwen of stealing the victory with populist policies, smears against political rivals and fear mongering against china. Theyve also contributed the results of foreign interference, in particular the United States. This is so false. Its their action. We got singled out along with senator rubio and Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi and myself as the ones that were causing the dissent in hong kong. The blame for that false sctrictly on beijing with the extradition law that they pushed through. We have written about this and i meant to bring pictures that i dont have and the people of hong kong have experienced freedom and liberty. They have had that for over 70 years. Unfortunately, the people from china of the communist party and president xi, the bureau and the pla which i have coined the cc pc, chinese, and his party complex they have never experienced freedom and liberty for it when you to take that away from somebody it is a force of nature that says no, we will not be suppressed. Again, president tsai ingwen said she is willing to have dialogue with china if there is respect for taiwan sovereignty and democracy and that is all they are asking for it president site is also wise to pin it to the south for Economic Diversification and that is what i want to talk about it where do we go from here connect the people of taiwan has spoken distinctly, clearly that they want to have their sovereignty selfgovernance and so president tsai ingwen to pivet to the south and to increase diplomatic relations with all countries and diversification and investments with other countries so that they are not solely dependent on china. We, countries in the free world, should increase taiwans world acceptance in the form of diplomatic acceptance and reentry into the world organizations like the World Health Assembly and the un but we are one of the first i know in our congress when beijing forced taiwan out of the wha, World Health Assembly, said they could not be read presented there independently. We said this is not right. Taiwan has contributed so much to the world of health with the sars epidemic and they will continue to do that and these are things they know no borders but when you get into epidemiology and diseases they know no borders but we want all hands on deck and for one country to say you cant participate is wrong. One cannot anticipate or believe president xi will change his policies. For him to do so would be admitting a mistake and in china president xi never makes a mistake and he cant afford to. That would show weakness and he cant afford to as i said, especially in lieu of the election within a couple of years. Yet president xi and the ccpc, chinese, and his party complex would be wise to except taiwans willingness to understand this, except the willingness of the status quo. Respect their sovereignty. China has nothing to gain by trying to unify taiwan to the mainland. However, they have much to lose. It will force an International Backlash with countries and companies wanting to divest from china. I see that so clearly and you see that in hong kong. I got businesses that say we are in hong kong or thinking about expanding but we are not now. That is for an area the people agree is a province of china. It will force an International Backlash, like i said, and these companies will want to divest from china. If china accepts the status quo that taiwan is a sovereign and selfgoverning democracy they, taiwan and the world, will all benefit. President xi and china would gain much respect to except president tsai offer and leave them alone. With that, i will conclude my remarks. I appreciate you all letting me come by and talk. I feel very strongly about this and i know as we talk to people from around the world we got our manufacturers looking to do the abc model and that is manufactured anywhere but china because of the regression and the lack of following the rule of law this is something that will continue until china chooses to change their tactics. We cant force china to do anything. I dont want to. But i think we, as democracies around the world, we can have actions change by the way we choose to do business and who we choose to do business. I want to congratulate president tsai for winning a resounding election. We look forward to her leadership and look forward to working with the ambassador and i thank you all for letting me come by and participates. Do you have time for one or two questions connect greats. Down in front. We will get you a microphone. Good morning congressman. After this election we are saying that the Chinese Foreign ministry sending a strong message urging the World Community to adhere to the one china principle but do you see after i want people sending a message to the world that they want to have a democratic side of the world and do you see the International Community starting to open up with after secretary pompeo sending his message congratulatory message and do you see some more countries opening up to be more openly supporting taiwan . I think we will see that. I truly believe that. If you look at hong kong its a province of pushing 8 Million People and 25 of those people are coming out and the removal of freedom and liberty. I have a set of pictures i did not bring what i can describe them to you. I have a blade of grass and an asphalt road with fiber to ask you which one was stronger you could look at it. Asphalt is hard and can crush the grass but when you see grass growing and pushing through asphalt which is more powerful . What that represents is freedom and liberty that you cant suppress that. Thats an innate ability or trait that all humans have that they want to be free and china does not have enough people or money to suppress freedom and so i thank you will see countries and companies further expand, is my prediction in the future, the taiwan and china smart they would accept and respect the offer of president tsai, shes not looking for independence but she wants to be left alone as her people do. They would be well served if they did that. China has already benefited so much from type what taiwan, as the world house, why would he want to rock the vote connect using what happened in icon when those numbers come out you will see a huge drop in their productivities of gdp and i think other countries will recognize that. Other questions . Congressman, you argue that its time to recognize taiwan as a country and will you push u. S. To wreck a nice time on or dual recognition, both china and taiwan . We have. We continue to do that. If you go back to the foundation of shanghai when they fought the war and he was the ruler of china and after world war ii. Then they had a conflict with the communist and he lost and they brought the kmt, to taiwan and form their own nation but since that time they got their own flag, own economy, own form of government and no National Anthem and all military and economic powerhouse. There are 11th trade partner. If china was smart they would not cause disruption where they cant win. Yet, they could overpower taiwan and they could do that but does that pay to their benefit and play to their benefit longterm or will that cause not just regional conflict but do you think other western democracies will sit still and watch democracy in that part of the region that is not causing anyone problems but benefiting entergy bidding . Will be also around and watch that been taken away . That is the question they need to ask the bureau and president xi can say face by changing policies and that will be his decision. I know where this will stand and its 40 years into the making and we had a visit by president tsai and we were honored to be able to sit with her in new york right next to her during a dinner and i thank you will see that happen more around the world and you will see other countries, and reopen relationships with taiwan. We are at a point in the 21stcentury that we dont need the confirmation and we need to expand the nations and expand trade and focus on those that make us stronger. Thank you. That was terrific. Particularly good analogy. I will remember that one. Thats poignant and very applicable to your daily suburban life. I like that analogy. It gives me great pleasure and honor now to bring to the stage sammy. Stanley is taiwans representative to the United States and he can be forgiven if it seems like much longer than 40 years because i think some of us have known stanley for a long time because hes represented taiwan for some 40 years in Foreign Service and in switzerland, malaysia, hungary, many headquartered posts and in fact, other students here in washington in the past. He brings a tremendous amount of wisdom to this job instability and hes been an excellent representative herein washington for all of us who are interested in taiwan issues but with that let me invite stanley to come to the stage and offer his remarks. Well, thank you very much for having me, walter. I think first of all immediately after the Election Results came official in addition to the state department warming encouragement message of congratulations there was one particular gentleman, secretary mike pompeo and he tweeted i quote, the United States congratulates doctor tsai on her reelection in taiwans election. Taiwan once again demonstrates the strength of the robust democratic system. Thank you, president tsai for your leadership in developing a strong u. S. Partnership. We thank him, secretary pompeo, and all taiwans robust democratic system and president tsai leadership in developing the u. S. Partnership. We cannot agree with him more. And here congressman yoho, id like to take this opportunity to thank you very much for more gracious and powerful support. This is brought me back to march 2019 right ear on this stage, the heritage foundation, congressman yoho joined senator of colorado and shared by in the videoconference with president tsai when she was transitioning through honolulu, hawaii and i was sitting beside her and the conversation was so lively, so enjoyable, so inspiring and stimul