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Asia/Pacific Rally 6/16/91 [OA 6034] [1]
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Asia/Pacific Rally 6/16/91 [1] [OA 6034]
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2
1
OUTLINE/Asian Pacific American Salute to the President
I.
Introductory/Acknowledgements
A. Thank hosts, entertainers
B. Jokes (one or two)
II. The Asian/Pacific American Success Story
A. Why they came: Opportunity
B. What they achieved: Excellence (stress on
prosperity)
C. How they did it: Competence not Color
III. Equality of Opportunity and Expansion of Opportunity as best
guarantor of true civil rights.
A. "Some say
=
1. Straw man of liberal line on civil rights = set
aside preferences, race-norming.
B. Refutation: "When an American knocks at
opportunity's door, he shouldn't have to show color
ID."
1. Those policies have failed
2. Those policies have reversely discriminated
against Asian/Pacific Americans.
C. Our Answer: Growth
1. Expanded opportunity not redistribution of
rights
2. A rising tide lifts all boats.
3. The most noble goals without a realistic
roadmap will get you lost on the way to utopia
IV. MFN
A. Segue
1. Another area where our best intentions may be
foiled by counsel based on impassioned response
rather than reasoned analysis.
2. Another area where growth has and will continue
to prove the best means toward progress.
B. Economic Argument
C. Moral Argument.
V.
Closing Remarks
A. Suggestion: Asian/Pacific Americans came to this
country seeking freedom -- religious, political, and
economic. Invite audience to join in keeping these
items on the menu at that greatest of All Nite Diners,
the United States of America.
OUTLINE/Asian Pacific American Salute to the President
I.
Introductory/Acknowledgements
A. Thank hosts, entertainers
1. Cohosts:
David Kwan
Porntip Nahkirunkanok (PAWN tip NA
kee run kah nook)
2. Event organizers: Elizabeth Szu (S00), Inder
Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo, and John Tsu (SOO)
B. Jokes (one or two)
C. How the various ethnic groups represented stand as a
testimony to the diversity as well as unity of the
Asian/Pacific Community.
II. The Asian/Pacific American Success Story
A. Why they came: Opportunity
1. POTUS once said, "For more than 200 years,
America has been the home of free markets and free
people. There is no question: opportunity in
America is the envy of the world."
B. What they achieved: Excellence (stress on
prosperity)
1. In the past decade, the Asian/Pacific community
has grown 105%; that's faster than any other
segment of the population -- and the growth of
this community's contributions has continued
apace.
2. With an emphasis on learning, family and the
work ethic, many Asian immigrants have achieved in
one generation what used to take earlier European
immigrants two or three generations. Indeed,
according to Census data, Japanese Americans and
Asian Indians now possess higher average family
income than all other ethnic groups -- including
whites.
3. The latest National Assessment of Educational
Progress shows Asian Americans way ahead of other
ethnic groups (including whites) in subjects such
as math. I'm getting specific stats.
4. Examples of Asian American excellence: An Wang,
founder of Wang Laboratories, Henry Tang, I.M.
Pei, Seiji Ozawa, physicist Leo Esaki.
C. How they did it: Competence not Color
1. Reliance on self, not set aside preferences.
2. Asian and Pacific Americans have traditionally
looked to self-help, education, hard work, and
family rather than to government to solve problems
and improve living standards.
III. Equality of Opportunity and Expansion of Opportunity as best
guarantor of true civil rights.
A. "Some say
"
1. Straw man of liberal line on civil rights = set
aside preferences, race-norming.
B. Refutation: "When an American knocks at
opportunity's door, he shouldn't have to show color
ID."
1. Those policies have failed
2. Those policies have reversely discriminated
against Asian/Pacific Americans.
a) This Administration is committed to
eliminating all racial preference oriented
legislation that may be prohibiting rather
than encouraging opportunity for the Asian
and Pacific American community.
b) POTUS has appointed more Asians to top
management and advisory roles in his
Administration than any other President in
history. He has appointed the first Asian
American as an ambassador and as a deputy
secretary of a Cabinet department -- the
Administration has done this not with an aim
to impose diversity, but with the goal of
achieving excellence.
C. Our Answer: Growth
"If America is to be competitive, then every
American -- male or female, black or white,
young or old, handicapped or disadvantaged -
- must have the opportunity to play a part"
(Pink)
1. Expanded opportunity not redistribution of
rights
2. A rising tide lifts all boats.
3. The most noble goals without a realistic
roadmap will get you lost on the way to utopia
a) "idealism about human
potential
pragmatism about human nature.' "
(Pink)
b) "A vision without a task is but a dream, a
task without a vision is drudgery, a vision
with a task is the hope of the world."
(Inscription on a church in Sussex, England,
1730)
IV. MFN
A. Segue
1. Another area where our best intentions may be
foiled by counsel based on impassioned response
rather than reasoned analysis.
a) moral foreign policy goals uniformed by
political and economic realities=charting a
ship's course by astrology rather than
astronomy.
2. Another area where growth has and will continue
to prove the best means toward progress.
a) POTUS at Yale: "East Asia is a case in
point. Today, this dynamic region plays an
important role in the world economy. As it
has grown more prosperous, it has also grown
more free. Driven forward by the engine of
economic growth and trade, especially with
the U.S., South Korea and Taiwan have shed
their once authoritarian rule in favor of
democracy and free trade. This same approach
guides our policy towards the People's
Republic of China, home to fully one-fifth of
the world's people."
b) economics can be sometimes more important
than politics because they can drive
politics.
c) Testimony of Rep. Toby Roth (R-WI) "In
southern China, there is a market economy
that's flourishing, and the forces of change
are all over. The cause of this
transformation has increased trade, I
believe, and we should apply this lesson.
The best way to strengthen the forces of
change and freedom in China is to provide
them with the economic lifeblood of trade.
And as trade produces changes in China, in
their economy, change I believe will come to
China's political leadership, or that
leadership will not survive. Other nations
in Europe and in Asia understand this
reality. Denying MFN will not isolate CHina.
It will isolate the United States."
B. Economic Argument
1. Economically, extended MFN is in our best
interest and the interest of the Chinese people.
China buys about $5 billion worth of American
products -- from computers to cotton. Without
that market, American jobs will be lost, and our
competitors will benefit from that loss.
2. Trade actions on both sides could also
adversely affect over $4 billion of U.S.
investment (1,200 US companies) in China. Without
MFN, substantially higher costs of Chinese imports
will translate into higher prices for our
consumers (e.g. tariffs on some textiles --
China's most lucrative category of exports to the
US -- would jump tenfold, from 6 percent to 60
percent)
3. Endangering MFN will deal a body blow to Hong
Kong, the bastion of freedom and free trae in the
Far East.
a) This is because Hong Kong handles much of
the US-Chinese trade and Hong Kong businesses
have invested heavily in south China's
thriving export industries.
b) If Washington recinds China's MFN
treatment, Hong Kong would see its trade in
Chinese goods to the US fall 44 percent and
its total trade shrink 7 percent, according
to the territory's government.
C. Efficacy Argument: progress achieved with
Administration's policy.
1. Mr. James Lilley, who has just ceased being the
US Ambassador in Beijing, claims that, following
US urgin, emigration from China rose by 84%
between 1988 and 1990; prominent dissidents like
Mr. Fang Lizhi were released; and the regime has
accounted for many of the casualties of Tianamen
Square.
2. Testimony of ranking minority member of the
Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, Rep.
Leach: " the Chinese externally in the last year
have moved towards normalizing relations with a
number of countries such as Singapore and
Indonesia that they haven't had normal relations
with, also Saudi Arabia. They've worked towards a
diplomatic solution in the Spratly Islands
dispute, and that there are certain acts of the
Chinese government externally that are consonant
with the American position."
D. Moral Argument.
1. POTUS at Yale:
"Some argue that a nation as moral and just
as ours should not taint itself by dealing
with nations less moral, less just. But this
counsel offers up self-righteousness draped
in a false morality. You do not reform a
world by ignoring it." "
"It is wrong to isolate China if we hope to
influence China
No nation on Earth has
discovered a way to import the world's goods
and services while stopping foreign ideas at
the border.
"This nation's foreign policy has always been
more than simply an expression of American
interests; it's an extension of American
ideals. This moral dimension of American
policy requires us to remain active, engaged
in the world."
"We cannot transform a world if we hide from
its unpleasant realities
We want to advance
the cause of freedom, not just snub nations
that aren't yet wholly free."
V.
Closing Remarks
A. Suggestion: Asian/Pacific Americans came to this
country seeking freedom -- religious, political, and
economic. Invite audience to join in keeping these
items on the menu at that greatest of All Nite Diners,
the United States of America.
Speechfile
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Los Angeles, California)
For Immediate Release
June 16, 1991
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN ADDRESS TO ASIAN-PACIFIC COMMUNITY
Mile Square Park
Fountain valley, California
12:38 P.M. PDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very, very much. Senator
Seymour, first of all, thank you, sir. Senator Seymour, a brand-new
Senator doing a first-class job for California and for the United
States. I had the pleasure to support him, endorse him, and I'm glad
to be introduced by him. (Applause.)
And let me single out other members of Congress -- Dana
Rohrabacher is here with me. All of you know him, and you should if
you don't. Bob Dornan, my steadfast supporter. (Applause.) And
Congressman Cox -- Chris Cox -- and Congressman Mineta with us here
today. This is a nonpartisan, bipartisan group, and I'm delighted to
see him with us. Congressman Dreier I didn't see. Dave didn't make
Faleomavaega. it, darn it; don't hold it against him. (Laughter.) Congressman
Elaine Chao, our Deputy Secretary of Transportation back
here. (Applause.) And to the others -- Mr. Kwan, Miss Porntip,
Elizabeth Szu -- what a job she's done on this marvelous day.
(Applause.) Inder Singh, another leader of all of this. Ky Ngo:
Johnny Tsu, my old friend from San Francisco; and most of all, my
fellow (Applause.) Americans. I'm proud to be with you on this very special day.
It's wonderful to be here. I just toured some cultural
exhibits. I hope all of you will have a chance to see them. And
I've seen some that were fascinating, and I also have heard that the
performers did a superb job. I'm sorry I didn't get to do that.
I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day.
(Applause.) I don't know about your kids, but I know about mine, and
they guided me through life by using those three magic words, "Ask
your mother." (Laughter.) Let me also say, as someone who just had
a birthday, it's a pleasure to be with people whose cultures revere
old age. But I don't feel old. This great turnout -- Elizabeth says
60,000 people -- make me feel like a spring colt, young, indeed. And
I'm proud to be with you all. (Applause.)
And I am proud to have had the chance to salute the
various groups who form the Asian-Pacific American community. This
community combines groups diverse in name but united by ideals:
discipline, self-sacrifice, belief in hard work, and most
fundamentally, devotion to freedom. These ideals brought your
grandparents and parents, and also some of you -- many of you -- to
America. this country. These ideals have always uplifted the United States of
You know, for more than 200 years, this nation has built
free markets and protected free people. There is no question:
opportunity in America is the envy of the-world. You came in search
of opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you are building it in a myriad of thousands of ways.
(Applause.) You've enhanced our schools, our professions, our small
and large businesses. For America's Asian-Pacific community, growth
is not a code word, it's a watchword that helped the entire American
- 2 -
community. And I congratulate you for that contribution to the
greatest country on the face of the Earth. (Applause.)
As Senator Seymour just told us, Asian Americans have
made the American Dream a reality. According to the latest National
Assessment of Educational Progress, Asian Americans are excelling
where we need to excel -- in subjects such as math. Your greatest
contributions, I'm convinced, lie ahead. The Asian-Pacific community
has increased in size over the last decade more than any other
ethnic group. I look forward to more pioneers like Henry Tang,
physicist Leo Esaki. They know how merit and opportunity beget
growth and opportunity and brotherhood.
You know, we also must understand, though, that growth
abroad can help the United States. We can find a perfect example in
East Asia, a dynamic region that will spur America's growth. Already
-- I think you all know this, but a lot of Americans don't --
already, our transpacific trade has surpassed our transatlantic
trade. In 1990, we exported more to Singapore than we did to Spain
or Italy; to Malaysia more than to the Soviet Union; to Indonesia
more than to all of Central Europe. This is what you all are doing
and this is what we believe in. (Applause.) The FAA estimates that
by 1993 traffic on Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a
passenger-mile basis. Consider, too, that more than 1,000 U.S.
companies have invested over $4 billion in the People's Republic of
China -- and that China buys about $5 billion of American products --
from computers to cotton. You take away these exports and you take
American jobs. (Applause.)
so let me just say a word about that. I acted three
weeks ago to expand this growth by asking Congress to renew for
another year China's Most Favored Nation status. I knew that ending
MFN would increase the cost of Chinese imports. It would hurt Hong
Kong a bastion of freedom and free trade, as well as investors in
South China's export industries -- South China, the center of China's
prodemocracy movement now. I know many of you have families and
visited your families the students, some of whom I've just met
with -- maybe some of whom I just see. You brought with you your
American ideas -- democracy, human rights, free enterprise. We
should not cut off this flow of hope, of goods, of ideas and ideals.
(Applause.) Because, you see, these nourish the desire for freedom.
Our policy relies on an obvious fact: to influence China, one simply
cannot isolate China. And I do not want to be the President to
isolate China, I want to be the President to facilitate change for
human rights in China. (Applause.)
Let me give you one reminder of this and I'll get on to
another -- I want to talk about these guys. You guys wait: I'm going
to get to you because I agree with you. And when I ask you to hold
that sign up, please do it. Now let me finish this one point here.
I have another example. In December of 1989, over strong
objections from many in the Congress, I vetoed the so-called Pelosi
bill. I don't mistrust her intentions, but she was wrong --
unnecessary legislation. If that bill had become law, I am convinced
in my mind that Beijing would have used it as a pretext to stop
permitting Chinese young people to study in the United States.
Instead, I extended even greater protections than provided for in the
Pelosi bill, first through a presidential memorandum, then through a
far-reaching executive order. And you know, in the last year alone,
we issued 11,500 visas to Chinese students and scholars to study in
the United States. That would have been 11,500 opportunities lost if
we had turned our back on China. (Applause.)
And I might say, I met with some of the student leaders
-- the real student leaders -- just a minute ago. Chinese people
studying in the United States, four of them having stood in Tiananmen
Square. And these signs say it: Renew MFN for China without
condition because we want to be able to effect change for human
rights in China. (Applause.)
so we'll be continuing to reform -- urge China to reform
MORE
- 3 -
internally and to rejoin the community of nations. We can't be sure
of success, but we can be sure that without American dialogue,
without your commitment to freedom being understood in China, the
movement for reform in China would be set back. And I don't want to
be here as President when we set back the chance for human rights in
any country. (Applause.)
Now, here's my signs back here. Get them up high so the
press can see them. Where's the one with "SADAM"? Where is it?
Well, I don't see it. But let me tell you, they are right. They are
absolutely correct. We will not remove sanctions from Iraq as long
as the brutal Saddam Hussein remains in power. (Applause.)
And I might say peripherally how proud I am -- I was in
there a minute ago, and an Asian lieutenant, an Asian American
lieutenant in the Air Force came up to me, and she said, "Thank you
for Desert Storm." And I turned to her and I said, "Don't thank me,
you thank your colleagues in the Air Force, the Army, the Navy, the
Coast Guard, and the Marines that made our country proud again."
(Applause.)
so you guys are right. And we'll do everything we can to
see that we have a reasoned administration there with whom we can
deal with respect, integrity and honor. But it isn't going to be
there as long as it's the brutalization of the Kurds in the north,
the Shiites in the south, and as long as there's this environmental
degradation that Saddam has wreaked upon the entire world. So we
were right in kicking him out of Kuwait. (Applause.)
And let me say another point -- human rights; you got it.
Let me make another point. We've got to brush away arbitrary
discrimination. And if that means fighting quotas that harm talented
Ameircans like the thousands of Asian students in our universities,
then we're going to fight all the way. You know the awful tolls --
quotas penalize achievers. They slam shut opportunity's door. Here
in California, in this great largest state, and across the nation, we
have seen the conflicts that quotas can incite -- and we have come to
appreciate more than ever before the importance of excellence and
opportunity.
You know, our administration does believe in affirmative
action -- in offering a hand, in opening the door of opportunity.
But we don't believe in an America by the numbers. We do not believe
in discriminating by quotas or by the numbers. (Applause.)
And very candidly and I hope this doesn't sound
egotistical, but I take pride in the fact that we have a good record
on civil rights. We've nurtured equality of opportunity and equality
under the law. We've promoted a civil rights bill that would
strengthen our laws against discrimination and we've tried to build a
spirit of cooperation, not litigation.
I've put forward a major piece of civil rights
legislation to fight against discrimination in the workplace.
Congress should pass my bill. Let me be clear: I will not sign any
civil rights bill that allows quotas directly or indirectly:
explicitly or implicitly. (Applause.)
And if I might just say a word -- take a word of pride in
what our administration has done. We've practiced the kind of
affirmative action I'm talking about. I'm proud to have named more
Asian-Pacific Americans to top management and advisory roles than any
President in history. Anc I'm going to keep on finding good men and
women from the Asian community to serve this great country.
(Applause.) This may be hard for some of you to understand --
successful in business, leaders and students -- but I was the first
to appoint a government agency head, Pat Saiki -- Pat Saiki, leading
now the SEA. The first as a deputy secretary of a Cabinet
department, the second highest level, right there next to the
Secretary -- and, of course, you know her -- Elaine Chao, in whom I
take such great pride once again. (Applause.) The first as an
ambassador -- I found this hard to believe, but the first, Ambassador
MORE
sa'd
MARLIN
01
JUN-16-1991 14:38 FROM L.A. PRESS OFFICE
- 4 -
Julia Chang-Bloch. And, of course, I can't tell you how proud I am
to have at my side a guy that many of you know, Sichan Siv, who's
working (Applause.) in the White House. What a job he's done for us.
You know why they were picked? They weren't picked
because they were Asian Americans: they were picked because they were
the (Applause.) best men and women for the job. And that's the American way.
I mentioned the ideals that enrich the Asian-Pacific
community. Let me close with a passage from a Chinese author -- Lin
Yutang. "Today," he said, "some are afraid of simple words like
goodness and mercy and kindness. They don't believe in the good old
words because they don't believe in the good old values."
Well, Asian-Pacific Americans have always believed in
these good old-fashioned values -- mercy, goodness, kindness, and I
would add, family -- the strength of the American family.
Asian-Pacific Americans have always believed in these values --
respect for dignity, yes, belief in family, hard work, free
enterprise, belief in ideals and causes larger than ourselves.
so I wanted to say I am very proud to have been here
today. I see the signs from the various countries, and thank
heavens, I've had -- I've been enriched by being in almost every one
of them. I think of the tragedies in Bangladesh, and then I think of
our helicopter pilots that went in on their way home -- gave up
coming home to save lives there. I think of Iraq and what our young
men and women did. And, yes, I think of those who lost their lives
in Iraq. And it would never have happened if the brutality of Saddam
Hussein hadn't overcome reason and rationality. I think of Cambodia
and India and Pakistan. (Applause.) And I think of all of these --
and Vietnam -- you are right, you are right, Vietnam -- look at what
-- the contribution Vietnamese have made to our great country. And
we're never going to forget that Vietnam is not free and democratic,
as some of our critics would have you believe.
So I know I'm going to get in trouble for forgetting them
-- Iran -- Iran. I want to see a free Iran full of human rights,
where we can have better relations again. And thank God, relations
people want them right here.
are getting a little better, but I want to see them good, the way you
Now, thank you all -- hey, listen, I'm going to get in
trouble. (Laughter.) But I came out here, Barbara and I did, to say
thank you for the contribution to this great country. Thank you for
what you are doing. And I look forward to working with each and
every one of the 50,000 of you to make things better for our great
thanks. And may God bless you all. But most of all, may God bless
country, America, and for the countries from which you came. Many
the (Applause.) United States of America. Thank you very much. Thank you.
END
12:55 P.M. PDT
Send to Christina Martin
91 JUN 14 P5: 24
(Smith/Grossman)
June 13, 1991
Draft Four
PACIFIC.TS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
12:00 p.m.
Senator Seymour/ Congressman Cox, thank you for that
introduction. / Congressman Rohrabacher, Congressman Dornan,
Deputy See of Transportation
add
Elaine Chao, Mr. Kwan, Miss Porntip (PAWN tip), Elizabeth Szu
(SOO), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo (Nn-GO), John Tsu (S00),
my fellow Americans. //
An Asian proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total. // The
cultural exhibits I've just seen were fascinating, and although I
couldn't make it, I know the performers did a superb job. //
((This is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to since my
election to the Presidency. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
took this many people to help find my ball.) ) //
((I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day. / I'm like
many dads. My kids know me as a Father who guided them through
life by using those three magic words, "Ask your mother." // Let
me say, too, that as someone who's just had a birthday, it's a
pleasure to be with people whose cultures revere old age. )) //
Most of all, I am proud to have the chance to salute the
various ethnic groups who form the Asian/Pacific-American
2
community. This community combines groups diverse in name but
united by ideals: discipline / self-sacrifice / belief in hard
work / and devotion to freedom. / These ideals brought your
grand-parents, parents, and some of you to America. These ideals
always have uplifted America. //
For more than 200 years, this Nation has built free markets
and protected free people. There is no question: Opportunity in
America is the envy of the world. // You came in search of
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our professions, our small and large businesses. For
America's Asian/Pacific community, growth is not a codeword. It
is a watchword that has helped enrich the American community. //
Consider how according to Census data on average family
incomes, Asian-Americans have made the American Dream reality. //
Or how the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress
shows Asian-Americans excelling in subjects such as math. //
Your greatest contributions lie ahead. Over the past decade, the
Asian/Pacific community has increased in size by 95 percent --
more any other ethnic group. I look forward to more pioneers
like Henry Tang and physicist Leo Esaki. They know how merit and
opportunity beget growth, opportunity, brotherhood. //
But we also must understand that growth abroad can help the
United States. We can find a perfect example in East Asia, a
dynamic region that will spur America's growth. //
3
Already, we conduct more than twice as much trade with our
Pacific allies than we do with Europe. In 1990, we exported more
to Singapore than to Spain or Italy / to Malaysia more than to
the Soviet Union / to Indonesia more than to all of Central
Europe. // The FAA estimates that by 1993 traffic on Pacific
routes will surpass the Atlantic on a passenger-mile basis. //
Consider, too, that more than 1,000 U.S. companies have invested
over $4 billion in the People's Republic of China -- and that
China buys about $5 billion worth of American products -- from
computers to cotton. Take away these products -- and you take
American jobs. //
Three weeks ago, I acted to expand this growth by asking
Congress to renew for another year China's Most Favored Nation
trade status. I knew that ending MFN would increase the cost of
Chinese imports. It would cripple Hong Kong -- a bastion of
freedom and free trade and investor in South China's export
industries. // It would cripple Southern China, the center of
China's pro-democracy movement. I know many of you have visited
your families in China. You have spread American ideas --
democracy, human rights, free enterprise. We should not cut off
this flow of hope, of goods, of ideas and ideals. These, after
all, nourish the desire for freedom. Our policy relies on an
obvious fact: To influence China, one cannot isolate China. //
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American interests. It is an extension of American
principles. Through engagement with China -- and in response to
4
my extending MFN last year -- Professor Fang Lizhi enjoys freedom
today in this country. He even enjoys that precious freedom --
the freedom to differ publicly with this country's policies, as
he has done before the Congress. //
I have another example of engagement's advantage over
righteous isolationism. In December of 1989, over strong
objections in the Congress and in the Nation, I vetoed the Pelosi
bill -- legislation intended to protect students in this country.
/ If that bill had become law, I am convinced Beijing would have
used it as a pretext to stop permitting Chinese young people to
study in the United States. Instead, I extended even greater
protections than provided for in the Pelosi bill, first through a
Presidential Memorandum and then through an Executive Order. The
results of continued engagement are clear: In the last year
alone, we issued 11,500 visas to Chinese students and scholars to
study in the United States. We offered 11,500 opportunities that
might not have existed if we had turned our back on China.
We will continue urging China to reform internally and to
rejoin the community of nations. We cannot be sure of success.
We can be sure that without American dialogue, the movement for
reform in China will be set back, not advanced. //
Notice what I'm talking about here: results -- not empty hot
rhetoric; engagement, not isolationism.
If the world has learned anything in recent years, it is
that you cannot separate growth and freedom -- and that when it
comes to securing full lives for people freedom works.
5
Asian-Americans understand freedom's importance. You
understand freedom's demands. The American Dream calls upon the
human heart and will. But it also calls upon a government that
respects good deeds -- that refuses to accept discrimination on
the basis of sex or creed or national origin. //
Historically, Americans have thought of themselves not as
special interest groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as
individuals judged by their deeds. Now, as always, we must
commit ourselves to promoting equal rights for all Americans --
not preferential treatment for some. //
That means brushing away arbitrary discrimination. It means
fighting quotas that harm talented Americans like the thousands
of Asian students in our universities. // You know the awful
toll: Quotas penalize achievers. They slam shut opportunity's
door. Here in California and across the nation, we have seen the
conflicts that quotas can incite -- and we have come to
appreciate more than ever before the importance of excellence and
opportunity. //
Our Administration believes in affirmative action -- but
only if that term means offering a hand in opening the door of
opportunity. We don't believe in an America by the numbers. We
believe in an America of the people.
Our Administration has a splendid record on civil rights.
We have nurtured equality of opportunity and equality under the
law. We have promoted a civil rights bill that would punish
6
those who discriminate against qualified men and women. We have
tried to build a spirit of cooperation, not litigation.
That's why I will not sign any Civil Rights bill that allows
quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. /
We have practiced the kind of affirmative action I have
discussed. I am proud to have named more Asian/Pacific-Americans
to top management and advisory roles than any President in
changed
history. / The first as an ambassador, Julia Chang-Bloch. / Pat
Saiki, Administrator of the Small Business Administration. /
Elaine Chao, Deputy Secretary of Transportation. / And of
course, Sichan Siv on our White House staff. // I am proud not
because they were Asian -- but because they were the best men and
women for the jobs. //
I spoke earlier of the ideals that enrich the Asian/Pacific
community. Let me close with a passage from a Chinese author --
Lin Yutang. // "Today," he said, "[some] are afraid of simple
words like goodness and mercy and kindness. [They] don't believe
in the good old words because [they] don't believe in the good
old values " //
Asian/Pacific-Americans have always believed in these
values. Respect for dignity / belief in family, hard work, and
free enterprise // belief in ideals and causes larger than
ourselves. God bless what you done for our country, and thank
you for this occasion. And God bless the Nation you love and
enrich -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
June 12, 1991
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
TONY SNOW TS
FROM:
CURT SMITH
SUBJECT:
ASIAN/PACIFIC SALUTE TO THE PRESIDENT
On Tuesday, June 16th, at 12:00 p.m., in the Mile Square
Regional Park of Fountain Valley, California, you will deliver
remarks (approximately 11 minutes) to a crowd of 50,000.
Attendees consist of various members of the area's Asian/Pacific
American community. You will be introduced by Yee Chang Hang,
the first Hmong-American to graduate from the United States
Military Academy.
The speech begins by praising the achievements of the
Asian/Pacific community. The body of your remarks highlight two
areas of interest to that community: racial preferences, and the
extension of China's Most Favored Nation status. You argue that
economic growth is one of the best means to both a) expand
opportunities for minorities; and b) promote progress toward
democracy and a free market economy in China.
81 JUN 13 P12:32 P12: 32
(Smith/Grossman)
June 13, 1991
Draft Four
PACIFIC.TS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
12:00 p.m.
Senator Seymour/ Congressman Cox, thank you for that
introduction. / Congressman Rohrabacher, Congressman Dornan, Mr.
Kwan, Miss Porntip (PAWN tip), Elizabeth Szu (SOO), Inder Singh
(SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo (Nn-GO), John Tsu (SOO), my fellow
Americans. //
An Asian proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total. // The
cultural exhibits I've just seen were fascinating, and although I
couldn't make it, I know the performers did a superb job. //
((This is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to since my
election to the Presidency. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
took this many people to help find my ball.) ) //
((I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day. / I'm like
many dads. My kids know me as a Father who guided them through
life by using those three magic words, "Ask your mother." // Let
me say, too, that as someone who's just had a birthday, it's a
pleasure to be with people whose cultures revere old age.) ) //
Most of all, I am proud to have the chance to salute the
various ethnic groups who form the Asian/Pacific-American
2
community. This community combines groups diverse in name but
united by ideals: discipline / self-sacrifice / belief in hard
work / and devotion to freedom. / These ideals brought your
grand-parents, parents, and some of you to America. These ideals
always have uplifted America. //
For more than 200 years, this Nation has built free markets
and protected free people. There is no question: Opportunity in
America is the envy of the world. // You came in search of
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our professions, our small and large businesses. For
America's Asian/Pacific community, growth is not a codeword. It
is a watchword that has helped enrich the American community. //
Consider how according to Census data on average family
incomes, Asian-Americans have made the American Dream reality. //
Or how the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress
shows Asian-Americans excelling in subjects such as math. //
Your greatest contributions lie ahead. Over the past decade, the
Asian/Pacific community has increased in size by 95 percent --
more any other ethnic group. I look forward to more pioneers
like Henry Tang and physicist Leo Esaki. They know how merit and
opportunity beget growth, opportunity, brotherhood. //
But we also must understand that growth abroad can help the
United States. We can find a perfect example in East Asia, a
dynamic region thta will spur America's growth. //
3
Already, we conduct more than twice as much trade with our
Pacific allies than we do with Europe. our trans-Pacific trade
In 1990, we exported more to Singapore than to Spain or Italy /
to Malaysia more than to the Soviet Union / to Indonesia more
than to all of Central Europe. // The FAA estimates that by 1993
traffic on Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a
passenger-mile basis. // Consider, too, that more than 1,000
U.S. companies have invested over $4 billion in the People's
Republic of China -- and that China buys about $5 billion worth
of American products -- from computers to cotton. Take away
these products -- and you take American jobs. //
Three weeks ago, I acted to expand this growth by asking
Congress to renew for another year China's Most Favored Nation
trade status. I knew that ending MFN would increase the cost of
Chinese imports. It would cripple Hong Kong -- a bastion of
freedom and free trade and investor in South China's export
industries. // It would cripple Southern China, the center of
China's pro-democracy movement. I know many of you have visited
your families in China. You have spread American ideas --
democracy, human rights, free enterprise. We should not cut off
this flow of hope, of goods, of ideas and ideals. These, after
all, nourish the desire for freedom. Our policy relies on an
obvious fact: To influence China, one cannot isolate China. 11
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American interests. It is an extension of American
principles. Through engagement with China -- and in response to
4
my extending MFN last year -- Professor Fang Lizhi enjoys freedom
today in this country. He even enjoys that precious freedom --
the freedom to differ publicly with this country's policies, as
he has done before the Congress. //
I have another example of engagement's advantage over
righteous isolationism. Last year, over strong objections in the
Congress and in the Nation, I vetoed the Pelosi bill --
legislation intended to protect students in this country. / If
that bill had become law, I am convinced Beijing would have used
it as a pretext to stop permitting Chinese young people to study
in the United States. Instead, I extended even greater
protections than provided for in the Pelosi bill through an
Executive Order. The results of continued engagement are clear:
In the last year alone, we issued 11,500 visas to Chinese
students and scholars to study in the United States. We offered
11,500 opportunities that might not have existed if we had turned
our back on China.
We will continue urging China to reform internally and to
rejoin the community of nations. We cannot be sure of success.
We can be sure that without American dialogue, the movement for
reform in China will be set back, not advanced. //
Notice what I'm talking about here: results -- not empty hot
rhetoric; engagement, not isolationism.
If the world has learned anything in recent years, it is
that you cannot separate growth and freedom -- and that when it
comes to securing full lives for people freedom works.
5
Asian-Americans understand freedom's importance. You
understand freedom's demands. The American Dream calls upon the
human heart and will. But it also calls upon a government that
respects good deeds -- that refuses to accept discrimination on
the basis of sex or creed or national origin. //
Historically, Americans have thought of themselves not as
special interest groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as
individuals judged by their deeds. Now, as always, we must
commit ourselves to promoting equal rights for all Americans --
not preferential treatment for some. //
That means brushing away arbitrary discrimination. It means
fighting quotas that harm talented Americans like the thousands
of Asian students in our universities. // You know the awful
toll: Quotas penalize achievers. They slam shut opportunity's
door. Here in California and across the nation, we have seen the
conflicts that quotas can incite -- and we have come to
appreciate more than ever before the importance of excellence and
opportunity. //
Our Administration believes in affirmative action -- but
only if that term means offering a hand to qualified individuals.
We don't believe in an America by the numbers. We believe in an
America of the people.
Our Administration has a splendid record on civil rights.
We have nurtured equality of opportunity and equality under the
law. We have promoted a civil rights bill that would punish
6
those who discriminate against qualified men and women. We have
tried to build a spirit of cooperation, not litigation.
That's why I will not sign any Civil Rights bill that allows
quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. /
We have practiced the kind of affirmative action I have
discussed. I am proud to have named more Asian/Pacific-Americans
to top management and advisory roles than any President in
history. / The first to head a government agency, Pat Saiki. /
The first as a deputy secretary of a Cabinet department, Elaine
Chao. / The first as an ambassador, Julia Chang-Bloch. And of
course, Sichan Siv on our White House staff. // I am proud not
because they were Asian --but because they were the best men and
women for the jobs. //
I spoke earlier of the ideals that enrich the Asian/Pacific
community. Let me close with a passage from a Chinese author --
Lin Yutang. // "Today," he said, "[some] are afraid of simple
words like goodness and mercy and kindness. [They] don't believe
in the good old words because [they] don't believe in the good
old values " //
Asian/Pacific-Americans have always believed in these
values. Respect for dignity / belief in family, hard work, and
free enterprise // belief in ideals and causes larger than
ourselves. God bless what you done for our country, and thank
you for this occasion. And God bless the Nation you love and
enrich -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
91 JUN 13 All : 37
June 12, 1991
MEMORANDUM FOR TONY SNOW
FROM:
STEPHEN G. RADEMAKER
SR
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: Asia/Pacific Rally
Pursuant to Phil Brady's request, Counsel's Office has reviewed
the above-referenced matter. We have no objection to the draft
presidential remarks, subject to the changes indicated.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.
Attachment
CC: Phillip D. Brady
(Smith/Grossman)
91 JUN 11 Fill2:26
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
Yee Hang Chang -- the first Hmong from Laos to graduate from
the United States Military Academy -- thank you for that
introduction. / Mr. Kwan, Miss Nahkirunkanok [NA Kee-run-kah-
nook), Elizabeth Szu (SOO), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo (Nn-
GO), John Tsu (SOO), my fellow Americans. //
An Oriental proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total. //
((This is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to since my
election to the Presidency. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
took this many people to help find my ball. )) //
((I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day. / I'm like
many dads. My kids know me as a Father who guided them through
life by using those three magic words, "Ask your mother.' // Let
me say, too, that as someone who's just had a birthday, it's a
pleasure to be with people whose cultures reveres old age. )) //
Most of all, I am proud to have the chance to salute the
various ethnic groups who form the Asian/Pacific community.
Groups diverse in name but united by ideals. Ideals like belief
in work. Discipline, self-sacrifice, and a love of freedom. /
2
They are ideals which brought your grand-parents, parents, and
some of you to America. Ideals which are now uplifting America. //
For more than 200 years, this Nation has been the home of
free markets and free people. There is no question: Opportunity
in America is the envy of the world. // You came in search of
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our professions, our small and large businesses. For
the Asian/Pacific community, growth is not a codeword. It is a
watchword which has helped enrich the American community. //
Consider how according to Census data on average family
incomes, Japanese Americans and Asian Indians have made the
American Dream reality. // Or how the latest National Assessment
of Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans excelling in
subjects such as math. // Yet the best is still ahead. Over the
past decade, the Asian/Pacific community has grown by 105 per
cent -- faster than any group. I look forward to more pioneers
like An Wang, founder of Wang Laboratories, and Henry Tang and
I.M. Pei and physicist Leo Esaki. They know how merit and
opportunity begets the growth that is America. //
( (Let me tell a story of a restaurant in China where three
American tourists walked in. They were wearing the most
outrageous safari clothes / complete with Panama hats, backpacks,
video cameras, and a few Chinese phrases picked up from a
stateside friend who happens to own a wok. )) //
3
( (The friends stood around looking for a waiter, and finally
one asked in a loud voice: "How do we attract attention?") )
That's one way to attract attention. You've chosen another way.
// You haven't asked what government can do for you. You've
asked what you can do -- for yourself -- for your family and your
community. //
No people understands more than Asians what really counts:
competence, not color. You know what matters is the human heart
and will -- not sex or creed or national orgin. // Historically,
Americans have thought of themselves not as special interest
groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as individuals --
judged by what we are, and what we dream. // Some propose
policies that judge people by the pigment of their skin. I say -
- as you do -- what we need are equal rights for all Americans -
- not preferential treatment for some. //
You know what I'm talking about: Quotas that harm talented
Americans like the thousands of Asian students in our
universities who study science and engineering. // Our
Administration has a splendid record on civil rights. We have
nurtured equality of opportunity and equality under the law.
That is why I will not sign any Civil Rights bill which allows
quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. / Nor will our
Administration support the practice of "race-norming" -- which
insults minorities by separating their test scores from whites.
Race-norming drives Americans apart instead of bringing them
together. //
5
acted
continue
Two weeks ago, I moved to expand this growth by extending
trade
for
Most Favored Nationstatus. to China. I knew that ending MFN
would dramatically increase the cost of Chinese imports, and also
cripple Hong Kong -- a bastion of freedom and free trade and
investor in South China's export industries. // Moreover, I
recognized what many critics of MFN have either forgotten or
never knew. To influence China, one cannot isolate China. //
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American interests. It is an extension of American
principles. This moral dimension requires us to advance the
cause of freedom by understanding that often countries confront
moral ambiguity. Some argue that a nation as moral and just as
ours should not taint itself by dealing with nations less moral
and just. But this counsel offers up self-righteousness draped
in a false morality. You do not reform a world by ignoring it.
// This is the reason we have taken an intelligent stand on
China -- not grandstand at liberty's expense. / Here are the
results: Between 1988 and 1990, emigration from China rose by 84
per cent; prominent dissidents were released; and the regime has
accounted for many of the casualties of Tienanmen Square. //
Is it enough? Not nearly -- and we will continue to urge
China to internally reform and externally rejoin the community of
nations. We cannot be sure of success. We can be sure that
without American dialogue, the free exchange of goods and ideas
between East Asia and the United States would die a certain death
through critics who now denounce MFN. //
6
I spoke earlier of the ideals which enrich the Asian/Pacific
community. Let me close with a passage from a Chinese author --
Lin Yutang -- who wrote brilliantly of their importance. //
"Today," he said, "we are afraid of the simple words like
goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good
old words because we don't believe in the good old values. If //
Asian-Americans have always believed in these values.
Respect for dignity / the primacy of the individual / the need
to join a cause larger than ourselves. God bless what you done
for our country, and thank you for this occasion. And God bless
the Nation you so richly love -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Date:
TO:
Holly Williamson
FROM:
ACTION
FYI
ACTION
FYI
Holiday
Jackson
Danzansky
McBee
Adair
McMunn
Buchholz
Porter
Casse
Schall
Evans
Sechler
Farrar
Wethington
Gunn
Williamson
Heimbach
URGENT
BY NOON
C.O.B.
Comments:
we went to promote
efciality of opportunt for
all individuals- Not Mordate
oyuality of result for Certain
groups.
Johifer
(Smith/Grossman)
91 JUN PM12:26
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
Yee Hang Chang -- the first Hmong from Laos to graduate from
the United States Military Academy -- thank you for that
introduction. / Mr. Kwan, Miss Nahkirunkanok [NA Kee-run-kah-
nook), Elizabeth Szu (SOO), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo (Nn-
GO), John Tsu (SOO), my fellow Americans. //
An Oriental proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total. //
((This is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to since my
election to the Presidency. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
took this many people to help find my ball.) ) //
((I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day. / I'm like
Elaime
many dads. My kids know me as a Father who guided them through
life by using those three magic words, "Ask your mother.' // Let
Juhr that
me say, too, that as someone who's just had a birthday, it's a
John
pleasure to be with people whose culture reveres old age.) )
Most of all, I am proud to have the chance to salute the
various ethnic groups who form the Asian/Pacific community.
Groups diverse in name but united by ideals. Ideals like belief
in work. Discipline, self-sacrifice, and a love of freedom. /
ASIAN-AMER. - Don'T SAY
ASIANS - they are
americans also.
run
2
some of you to America. Ideals which^are America. / r(Doc)
y are ideals which brought your grand-parents, parents, and
have always uplifted
For more than 200 years, this Nation has been the home of
noor
free markets and free people. There is no question: Opportunity
in America is the envy of the world. // You came in search of
V
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our professions, our small and large businesses. For
the Asian/Pacific community, growth is not a codeword. It is a
watchword which has helped enrich the American community. // /CDOL)
Consider how according to Census data on average family whatisthe data?
incomes, Japanese Americans and Asian Indians have made the
American Dream reality. // or how the latest National Assessment
of Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans excelling in
subjects such as math. // Yet the best is still ahead. Over the
?
past decade, the Asian/Pacific community has grown by 105 per
cent -- faster than any group. I look forward to more pioneers
like (An Wang, founder of Wang Laboratories, and Henry Tang and
I.M. Pei and physicist Leo Esaki. They know how merit and
opportunity begets the growth that is America. //
( (Let me tell a story of a restaurant in China where three
American tourists walked in. They were wearing the most
outrageous safari clothes / complete with Panama hats, backpacks,
video cameras, and a few Chinese phrases picked up from a
stateside friend who happens to own a wok. )) //
3
((The friends stood around looking for a waiter, and finally
one asked in a loud voice: "How do we attract attention?"))
That's one way to attract attention. You've chosen another way.
// You haven't asked what government can do for you. You've
asked what you can do -- for yourself -- for your family and your
3
community. //
This
No people understands more than Asians what really counts:
Dal
competence
not
soloun
You
KNOW
what
is
the human heart
want
DOL
and
will
//
Historically,
Americans have thought of themselves not as special interest
stremger to The
groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as individuals --
judged by what we are, and what we dream. //
DOL
policies
that
judge
plyment
$
I say -
- as you do -- what we need are equal rights for all Americans
DOL
not preferential treatment for some.
You know what I'm talking about: Quotas that harm talented
Americans like the thousands of Asian Amer students in our
move
Good in tentures gnups can leat to had
universities, who study science and engineer // Our
MFN
can
GUT soreration toinale
shirt,
Administration has a splendid record on civil rights. We have
to mide
nurtured equality of opportunity and equality under the law.
end W
That is why I will not sign any Civil Rights bill which allows
Sputa
quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. / Nor will our
Section
Administration support the practice of "race-norming" -- which
insults minorities by separating their test scores from whites.
win-
Race-norming drives Americans apart instead of bringing them
gwin
together. //
issue
to chine
withing
group,
4
Our Administration will fight any legislation that lessens
opportunity for the Asian/Pacific community. / Instead, we
propose actions that broaden opportunity. Because education is
the great uplifter, we have launched the America 2000 Education
strategy. / And I am proud to have named more Asians to top
management and advisory roles than any President in history / the
you
first Asian deputy secretary of a Cabinet department / the first
should ralaine name
Asian-American as an ambassador. // I am proud not because they
were Asian -- but because they were the best men and women for
Chao also the
job. / /
fat saiki
At home, our policies will spur justice and prosperity. Let
me speak now of an area abroad where the same equation holds. I
refer to East Asia, and how this dynamic region can spur
America's growth. //
Already, our trans-Pacific trade as a whole has more than
doubled that between America and Europe. In 1990, we exported to
Singapore more than to Spain or Italy / to Malaysia more than to
the Soviet Union / to Indonesia more than to all or Central
Europe. // The FAA also estimates that by 1993 traffic on
Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a passenger mile
1000
basis. // Consider, too, that more than 1,200 U.S. companies
(USTR)
have invested over $4 billion in the People's Republic of China
-- and that China buys about $5 billion worth of American
products -- from computers to cotton. Take away these products -
- and you take American jobs. //
5
renewing
Two weeks ago, I moved to expand this growth by
(USTR)
Most Favored Nation status to China. I knew that ending MFN
would dramatically increase the cost of Chinese imports, and also
cripple Hong Kong -- a bastion of freedom and free trade and
investor in South China's export industries. // Moreover, I
recognized what many critics of MFN have either forgotten or
never knew. To influence China, one cannot isolate China. //
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American interests. It is an extension of American
principles. This moral dimension requires as to advance the
cause of freedom by understanding that often countries confront
moral ambiguity
Some argue-that a nation as moral-and just as
should not taint itself by dealing with nations less moral
and just. But this offormap solf eightecusness draped
help in
false morality
You do not reform a world by ignoring it.
This is the reason we have taken an intelligent stand on
implies
-- not grandstand at liberty's expense. / Here are the
in , na the us, the moral asa us, wholChina
USIR
results: Between 1988 and 1990, emigration from China rose by
84
wanted
per cent; prominent dissidents were released; and the regime has to make
sure that
it
accounted for many of the casualties of Tienanmen Square. //
NSC/State
Experted e
Is it enough? Not nearly -- and we will continue to urge cleared
onthat
A instead insert
China to internally reform and externally rejoin the community of #
nations. We cannot be sure of success. We can be sure that
Suneed
high
inext pay)
without American dialogue, the free exchange of goods and ideas
tothem
between East Asia and the United States would die a certain death
through critics who now denounce MFN. //
6
I spoke earlier of the ideals which enrich the Asian/Pacific
community. Let me close with a passage from a Chinese author --
cooc
Lin Yutang -- who wrote brilliantly of their importance. TI the
"Today," he said, "we are afraid of the simple words like doesn't Statement
goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good seem
old words because we don't believe in the good old values." //
brilliant
Asian-Americans have always believed in these values.
Respect for dignity / the primacy of the individual / the need
to join a cause larger than ourselves. God bless what you done
for our country, and thank you for this occasion. And God bless
the Nation you so richly love -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
(Smith/Grossman)
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
12:00 p.m.
Yee Chang-Hang -- the first Hmong-American from Laos to
graduate from the United States Military Academy -- thank you for
that introduction. / Congressman Dornan, Mr. Kwan, Miss Porntip
(PAWN tip), Elizabeth Szu (S00), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo
(Nn-GO), John Tsu (SOO), my fellow Americans. //
An Asian proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total. // The
cultural exhibits I've just seen were fascinating, and although I
couldn't make it, I know the performers did a superb job. //
((This is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to since my
election to the Presidency. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
took this many people to help find my ball.) //
((I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day. / I'm like
many dads. My kids know me as a Father who guided them through
life by using those three magic words, "Ask your mother." // Let
me say, too, that as someone who's just had a birthday, it's a
pleasure to be with people whose culture%reveres old age.)) //
Most of all, I am proud to have the chance to salute the
American
various ethnic groups who form the Asian/Pacific' community.
2
Groups diverse in name but united by ideals. Ideals like
discipline, self-sacrifice, belief in hard work, and freedom. /
They are ideals which brought your grand-parents, parents, and
THESE
have
some of you to America. Ideals which have always^ uplifted
America. //
For more than 200 years, this Nation has been the home of
free markets and free people. There is no question: Opportunity
in America is the envy of the world. // You came in search of
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our professions, our small and large businesses. For America's
the Asian/Pacific community, growth is not a codeword. It is a
that
watchword which has helped enrich the American community --
keeping America whole and good. //
Consider how according to Census data on average family
incomes, Asian-Americans have made the American Dream reality. //
or how the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress
shows Asian-Americans excelling in subjects such as math. // Yet
the best is still ahead. Over the past decade, the Asian/Pacific
community has grown by over 105 per cent -- faster than any
group. I look forward to more pioneers like Henry Tang and I.Ms
Poi
and physicist Leo Esaki. They know how merit and opportunity
begets the growth that is America. //
No people understands more than Asian-Americans what really
counts: competence Q not color You know what matters is the
human heart and will -- not sex or creed or national orgin. //
3
Historically, Americans have thought of themselves not as special
interest groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as
individuals -- judged by what we are, and what we dream. // Some
propose policies that judge people by the pigment of their skin.
I say -- as you do -- what we need are equal rights for all
Americans -- not preferential treatment for some. //
You know what I'm talking about: Quotas that harm talented
Americans like the thousands of Asian students in our
universities. // Our Administration has a splendid record on
civil rights. We have nurtured equality of opportunity and
equality under the law. That is why I will not sign any Civil
that
Rights bill which allows quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. /
Nor will our Administration support the practice of "race-
norming" -- which insults minorities by separating their test
scores from whites. Race-norming drives Americans apart instead
of bringing them together. //
reduces
Our Administration will fight any legislation that lessens
opportunity for the Asian/Pacific-American community. / Instead,
we propose actions that broaden opportunity. Because education
is the great uplifter, we have launched the America 2000
Education strategy. / And I am proud to have named more Asian-
Americans to top management and advisory roles than any President
in history. / The first Asian-American to head a government
agency, Pat Saiki. / The first Asian-American deputy secretary
of a Cabinet department, Elaine Chao. / The first Asian-American
as an ambassador, Julia Chang-Bloch. And of course, Sichan Siv
4
on our White House staff. // I am proud not because they were
Asian -- but because they were the best men and women for the
jobs //
At home, our policies will ensure justice and prosperity.
Let me speak now of an area abroad where the same equation holds.
I refer to East Asia, and how this dynamic region can spur
America's growth. //
Already, our trans-Pacific trade as a whole has more than
doubled that between America and Europe. In 1990, we exported to
Singapore more than to Spain or Italy / to Malaysia more than to
the Soviet Union / to Indonesia more than to all of Central
Europe. // The FAA also estimates that by 1993 traffic on
Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a passenger mile
basis. // Consider, too, that more than 1,000 U.S. companies
have invested over $4 billion in the People's Republic of China
-- and that China buys about $5 billion worth of American
products -- from computers to cotton. Take away these products -
- and you take American jobs. //
Three weeks ago, I acted to expand this growth by renewing
for another year China's Most Favored Nation trade status. I
knew that ending MFN would dramatically increase the cost of
Chinese imports, and also cripple Hong Kong -- a bastion of
freedom and free trade and investor in South China's export
industries. // Moreover, I recognized what many critics of MFN
have either forgotten or never knew. To influence China, one
cannot isolate China. //
5
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American interests. It is an extension of American
principles. Through engagement with China -- and in response to
my extending MFN last year -- Professor Fang Lizhi is free today
in this country. He even enjoys that precious freedom -- the
freedom to differ publicly with this country's policies, as he
has done before the Congress. //
I have another example of the benefit of engagement -- no
matter how distasteful we may find dealing with those who violate
human rights. Last year, over strong objections in the Congress
and in the Nation, I vetoed the Pelosi bill -- legislation
intended to protect students in this country. / If that bill had
become law, I am convinced Beijing would have seized on it as a
pretext to end the practice of permitting Chinese young people to
study in the United States. Instead, I extended even greater
protections than provided for in the Pelosi bill through an
Executive Order. The results of continued engagement are clear:
In the last year alone, the number of visas issued to Chinese
students and scholars to study in the United States was 11,500.
That's 11,500 opportunities fulfilled that might have been
forgone if we did not stay engaged. //
We will continue to urge China to reform internally and
externally rejoin the community of nations. We cannot be sure of
success. We can be sure that without American dialogue, the
movement for reform in China will be set back, not advanced.
6
That is not in the interest of the Chinese people and it is
certainly not in the interest of the United States of America. //
that
I spoke earlier of the ideals which enrich the Asian/Pacific
community. Let me close with a passage from a Chinese author --
Lin Yutang -- who wrote brilliantly of their importance. //
"Today," he said, "[some] are afraid of simple words like
goodness and mercy and kindness. [They] don't believe in the
good old words because [they] don't believe in the good old
values " //
Asian-Americans have always believed in these values.
Respect for dignity / belief in family, hard work, and the free
enterprise system // above all, belief in a cause larger than
ourselves. God bless what you done for our country, and thank
you for this occasion. And God bless the Nation you SO richly
love -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
Alternate Flaine Chaw proposal
(Smith/Grossman)
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC2
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
Yee Hang Chang -- the first Hmong from Laos to graduate from
the United States Military Academy -- thank you for that
introduction. / Mr. Kwan, Miss Nahkirunkanok [NA Kee-run-kah-
nook), Elizabeth Szu (S00), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo (Nn-
GO), John Tsu (soo), my fellow Americans. //
An Oriental proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total. //
((This is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to since my
election to the Presidency. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
took this many people to help find my ball.) ) //
((I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day. / I'm like
many dads. My kids know me as a Father who guided them through
life by using those three magic words, "Ask your mother." // Let
me say, too, that as someone who's just had a birthday, it's a
pleasure to be with people whose culture reveres old age.) ) //
Most of all, I am proud to have the chance to salute the
various ethnic groups who form the Asian/Pacific community.
Groups diverse in name but united by ideals. Ideals like belief
in work. Discipline, self-sacrifice, and a love of freedom. /
2
They are ideals which brought your grand-parents, parents, and
some of you to America. Ideals which are now uplifting America. //
For more than 200 years, this Nation has been the home of
free markets and free people. There is no question: Opportunity
in America is the envy of the world. // You came in search of
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our professions, our small and large businesses. For
the Asian/Pacific community, growth is not a codeword. It is a
watchword which has helped enrich the American community. //
Consider how according to Census data on average family
incomes, Japanese Americans and Asian Indians have made the
American Dream reality. // or how the latest National Assessment
of Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans excelling in
subjects such as math. // Yet the best is still ahead. Over the
past decade, the Asian/Pacific community has grown by 105 per
cent -- faster than any group. I look forward to more pioneers
like An Wang, founder of Wang Laboratories, and Henry Tang and
I.M. Pei and physicist Leo Esaki. They know how merit and
opportunity begets the growth that is America. //
Let me speak first of how growth abroad can help the United
States. I refer to East Asia, and how this dynamic region can
spur America's prosperity. //
Already, our trans-Pacific trade as a whole has more than
doubled that between America and Europe. In 1990, we exported to
Singapore more than to Spain or Italy / to Malaysia more than to
3
the Soviet Union / to Indonesia more than to all or Central
Europe. // The FAA also estimates that by 1993 traffic on
Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a passenger mile
basis. // Consider, too, that more than 1,200 U.S. companies
have invested over $4 billion in the People's Republic of China
-- and that China buys about $5 billion worth of American
products -- from computers to cotton. Take away these products -
- and you take American jobs. //
Two weeks ago, I moved to expand this growth by extending
Most Favored Nation status to China. I knew that ending MFN
would dramatically increase the cost of Chinese imports, and also
cripple Hong Kong -- a bastion of freedom and free trade and
investor in South China's export industries. // Moreover, I
recognized what many critics of MFN have either forgotten or
never knew. To influence China, one cannot isolate China. //
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American interests. It is an extension of American
principles. This moral dimension requires us to advance the
cause of freedom by understanding that often countries confront
moral ambiguity. Some argue that a nation as moral and just as
ours should not taint itself by dealing with nations less moral
and just. But this counsel offers up self-righteousness draped
in a false morality. You do not reform a world by ignoring it.
// This is the reason we have taken an intelligent stand on
China -- not grandstand at liberty's expense. / Here are the
results: Between 1988 and 1990, emigration from China rose by 84
4
per cent; prominent dissidents were released; and the regime has
accounted for many of the casualties of Tienanmen Square. //
Is it enough? Not nearly -- and we will continue to urge
China to internally reform and externally rejoin the community of
nations. We cannot be sure of success. We can be sure that
without American dialogue, the free exchange of goods and ideas
between East Asia and the United States would die a certain death
through critics who now denounce MFN. //
In short, we need to reward those -- both home and abroad -
- who work the hardest -- not those who scream the loudest.
Asking not what government can do for you. But what you can --
for yourself -- for your family and your community. //
No people understands more than Asian-Americans what really
counts: competence, not color. You know what matters is the
human heart and will -- not sex or creed or national orgin. //
Historically, Americans have thought of themselves not as special
interest groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as
individuals -- judged by what we are, and what we dream. // Some
propose policies that judge people by the pigment of their skin.
I say -- as you do -- what we need are equal rights for all
Americans -- not preferential treatment for some. //
You know what I'm talking about: Quotas that harm talented
Americans like the thousands of Asian students in our
universities. //
Quotas penalize achievers. They divide
Americans -- not unite them. Here in California and across
America, we have seen the injury quotas can inflict. Too often,
5
universities set quotas that come as close as possible to the
proportional representation of high school-graduates
Too-often,
competition is based not on merit but
creed-
or
national origin
Our Administration has a splendid record on
civil rights. We have nurtured equality of opportunity and
equality under the law. That is why I will not sign any Civil
Rights bill which allows quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. /
Nor will our Administration support the practice of "race-
norming" -- which insults minorities by separating their test
scores from whites. Race-norming drives Americans apart instead
of bringing them together. //
Our Administration will fight any legislation that lessens
opportunity for the Asian/Pacific-American community. / Instead,
we propose actions that broaden opportunity. Because education
is the great uplifter, we have launched the America 2000
Education strategy. / And I am proud to have named more Asian-
Americans to top management and advisory roles than any President
in history / the first Asian-American deputy secretary of a
Cabinet department / the first Asian-American as an ambassador.
// I am proud not because they were Americans of Asian descent -
- but because they were the best men and women for the job. //
I spoke earlier of the ideals which enrich the Asian/Pacific
community. Let me close with a passage from a Chinese author --
Lin Yutang -- who wrote brilliantly of their importance. //
"Today," he said, "we are afraid of the simple words like
6
goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good
old words because we don't believe in the good old values. " //
Asian-Americans have always believed in these values.
Respect for dignity / belief in family, hard work, and the free
enterprise system / belief in patriotism and a cause larger than
ourselves. 5 These values are my values -- and I will always
uphold them.
I
God bless what you done for our country, and
thank you for this occasion. And God bless the Nation you so
richly love -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
Document No. 245053SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
91 JUNii P2: 34
DATE: 6/11/91
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: WEDNESDAY 6/12/91 3:00p.m .
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
per FYI
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
PETERSMEYER
SCOWCROFT bootleg
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
N/C
BRADY
SMITH
BROMLEY
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
DEMAREST
SNOW
FITZWATER
GRAY Paddemoker 5026
HOLIDAY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 3:00 p.m., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, with a copy to this
office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
MASTER
SEE MEMOS
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
(Smith/Grossman)
91 JUN 11 FM2:26
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
Yee Hang Chang -- the first Hmong from Laos to graduate from
the United States Military Academy -- thank you for that
introduction. / Mr. Kwan, Miss Nahkirunkanok [NA Kee-run-kah-
nook), Elizabeth Szu (SOO), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo (Nn-
GO), John Tsu (SOO), my fellow Americans. //
Asian
Gardner
An Oriental proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
(ampl) 'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total. //
((This is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to since my
election to the Presidency. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
took this many people to help find my ball. )) //
((I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day. / I'm like
many dads. My kids know me as a Father who guided them through
DOL
not like
life by using those three magic words, "Ask your mother." // Let
PORIS-HES
involved.
me say, too, that as someone who's just had a birthday, it's a
Grayt
pleasure to be with people whose culture reveres old age.)) //
Portee
Most of all, I am proud to have the chance to salute the
various ethnic groups who form the Asian/Pacific community.
Groups diverse in name but united by ideals. Ideals like belief
Porter in work Discipline, self-sacrifice, and a love of freedom. /
x acrept
belief In had swork.
2
They are ideals which brought your grand-parents, parents, and
DOL
have always uplifted
some of you to America. Ideals which are now uplifting America. //
X
For more than 200 years, this Nation has been the home of
free markets and free people. There is no question: Opportunity
in America is the envy of the world. // You came in search of
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our professions, our small and large businesses. For
the Asian/Pacific community, growth is not a codeword. It is a
Smith
watchword which has helped enrich the American community. // keep
DOL
America Consider whole + good. what IS this data?
If
how according to Census data on average family
incomes,
that so many Asian Americans (Gardner)
Japanese Americans and Asian Indians have made the
OUP
American Dream reality. // Or how the latest National Assessment
of Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans excelling in
subjects such as math. // Yet the best is still ahead.
Over the
past decade, the Asian/Pacific community has grown by 105 per ?
DOL
X
cent -- faster than any group. I look forward to more pioneers
Isn't he
like An Wang founder of Wang Laboratories, and Henry Tang and
dead?
I.M. Pei and physicist Leo Esaki They know how merit and
(DOL)
not oriental (Porter)
opportunity begets the growth that is America. //
( (Let me tell a story of a restaurant in China where three
Portee
loesn't jike like
American tourists walked in. They were wearing the most
used
outrageous safari clothes / complete with Panama hats, backpacks,
juke?
video cameras, and a few Chinese phrases picked up from a
(Gardney)
stateside friend who happens to own a wok. )) // (? -Smith)
Should we differentiate nationalities w/in one
DVP
ethnic group? P.3 refers to being seen as
"individuals" not part of a group,
accept
3
( (The friends stood around looking for a waiter, and finally
Smith one asked in a loud voice: "How do we attract attention?")) Not fenny. that
That's one way to attract attention. You've chosen another way.
// You haven't asked what government can do for you. You've
asked what you can do -- for yourself -- for your family and your
community. /
Anaicans
X Chieu
No people understands more than Asians what really counts:
DOL
competence; not color You know what matters is the human heart
will, not sex or creed or national orgin. es // Historically,
Gender
and
DOL
Americans have thought of themselves not as special interest
groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as individuals --
judged by what we are, and what we dream. // Some propose
DOL
policies that judge people by the pigment of their skin I I say -
- as you do -- what we need are equal rights for all Americans ¥
DOL
not preferential treatment for some. .tt
You know what I'm talking about: Quotas that harm talented
Americans like the thousands of Asian students in our
Gardner universities who study science and engineering, and // Our other subjects.
Administration a splendid record on civil rights. We have
has 1 study more than science + rengineering (Porter)
nurtured equality of opportunity and equality under the law.
That is why I will not sign any Civil Rights bill which allows
quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. / Nor will our
Administration support the practice of "race-norming" -- which
insults minorities by separating their test scores from whites.
*
Race-norming drives Americans apart instead of bringing them
Smith
together. //
Must understand that Labor still practices
"race norming" w/ AG GAT test -could get
nailed on this!
4
Our Administration will fight any legislation that lessens
Aneica)
chief
opportunity for the Asian/Pacific community. / Instead, we
propose actions that broaden opportunity. Because education is
the great uplifter, we have launched the America 2000 Education
Anricas
strategy. / And I am proud to have named more Asians to top
X
management and advisory roles than any President in history / the
first Asian deputy secretary of a Cabinet department / the first
Is this
having it
Asian- American as an ambassador. // I am proud not because they
both (Smith) ways
were Asian -- but because they were the best men A and women A for
the job. //
(Porter)
D2
X
ensure
At home, our policies will spur justice and prosperity. Let
me speak now of an area abroad where the same equation holds. I
Elaine
refer to East Asia, and how this dynamic region can spur
chaod
America's growth. //
Pat
Saiki
should Already, our trans-Pacific trade as a whole has more than
be
doubled that between America and Europe. In 1990, we exported to
alsomed.
Singapore more than to Spain or Italy / to Malaysia more than to
COCA)X
the Soviet Union / to Indonesia more than to all'or Central
Europe. // The FAA also estimates that by 1993 traffic on
Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a passenger mile
X
USTR
basis. // Consider, too, that more than 1,200 1,000 U.S. companies
have invested over $4 billion in the People's Republic of China
-- and that China buys about $5 billion worth of American
products -- from computers to cotton. Take away these products -
- and you take American jobs. //
4371
Document No. 245053SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDU
DATE: 6/11/91
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: WEDNESDAY 6/12/91 3:00p.m
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
PETERSMEYER
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BRADY
SMITH
BROMLEY
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
DEMAREST
SNOW
FITZWATER
GRAY
HOLIDAY
REMARKS:
Please forward your comments directly to Tony Snow, Rm. 122, x2930,
no later than 3:00 p.m., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, with a copy to this
office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
June 13, 1991
TO: TONY SNOW
NSC concurs with noted changes.
As
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Brent Scowcroft
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
CC: Phillip D. Brady
(Smith/Grossman)
91 JUN 11 PM 12: 26
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
Yee Hang Chang -- the first Hmong from Laos to graduate from
the United States Military Academy -- thank you for that
introduction. / Mr. Kwan, Miss Nahkirunkanok [NA Kee-run-kah-
nook), Elizabeth Szu (SOO), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo (Nn-
GO), John Tsu (SOO), my fellow Americans. //
An Oriental proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total. //
((This is one of the largest crowds I've spoken to since my
election to the Presidency. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
took this many people to help find my ball. )) //
((I'm also glad to be with you on Father's Day. / I'm like
many dads. My kids know me as a Father who guided them through
life by using those three magic words, "Ask your mother." // Let
me say, too, that as someone who's just had a birthday, it's a
pleasure to be with people whose culture reveres old age.) ) //
Most of all, I am proud to have the chance to salute the
various ethnic groups who form the Asian/Pacific community.
Groups diverse in name but united by ideals. Ideals like belief
in work. Discipline, self-sacrifice, and a love of freedom. /
2
They are ideals which brought your grand-parents, parents, and
some of you to America. Ideals which are now uplifting America. //
For more than 200 years, this Nation has been the home of
free markets and free people. There is no question: Opportunity
in America is the envy of the world. // You came in search of
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our professions, our small and large businesses. For
the Asian/Pacific community, growth is not a codeword. It is a
watchword which has helped enrich the American community. //
Consider how according to Census data on average family
incomes, Japanese Americans and Asian Indians non-Auvereson? have made the
American Dream reality. // Or how the latest National Assessment
of Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans excelling in
subjects such as math. // Yet the best is still ahead. Over the
past decade, the Asian/Pacific community has grown by 105 per
cent -- faster than any group. I look forward to more pioneers
like An Wang, founder of Wang Laboratories, and Henry Tang and
I.M. Pei and physicist Leo Esaki. They know how merit and
opportunity begets the growth that is America. //
( (Let me tell a story of a restaurant in China where three
American tourists walked in. They were wearing the most
outrageous safari clothes / complete with Panama hats, backpacks,
video cameras, and a few Chinese phrases picked up from a
stateside friend who happens to own a wok. ) ) //
3
( (The friends stood around looking for a waiter, and finally
one asked in a loud voice: "How do we attract attention?") )
That's one way to attract attention. You've chosen another way.
// You haven't asked what government can do for you. You've
asked what you can do -- for yourself -- for your family and your
community. //
No people understands more than Asians what really counts:
competence, not color. You know what matters is the human heart
and will -- not sex or creed or national orgin. // Historically,
Americans have thought of themselves not as special interest
groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as individuals --
judged by what we are, and what we dream. // Some propose
policies that judge people by the pigment of their skin. I say -
- as you do -- what we need are equal rights for all Americans -
- not preferential treatment for some. //
You know what I'm talking about: Quotas that harm talented
Americans like the thousands of Asian students in our
universities who study science and engineering. // Our
Administration has a splendid record on civil rights. We have
nurtured equality of opportunity and equality under the law.
That is why I will not sign any Civil Rights bill which allows
quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. / Nor will our
Administration support the practice of "race-norming" -- which
insults minorities by separating their test scores from whites.
Race-norming drives Americans apart instead of bringing them
together. //
4
Our Administration will fight any legislation that lessens
opportunity for the Asian/Pacific community. / Instead, we
propose actions that broaden opportunity. Because education is
the great uplifter, we have launched the America 2000 Education
strategy. / And I am proud to have named more Asians to top
management and advisory roles than any President in history / the
first Asian deputy secretary of a Cabinet department / the first
Asian-American as an ambassador. // I am proud not because they
were Asian -- but because they were the best men and women for
the job. / /
At home, our policies will spur justice and prosperity. Let
me speak now of an area abroad where the same equation holds. I
refer to East Asia, and how this dynamic region can spur
America's growth. //
Already, our trans-Pacific trade as a whole has more than
doubled that between America and Europe. In 1990, we exported to
Singapore more than to Spain or Italy / to Malaysia more than to
the Soviet Union / to Indonesia more than to all or of Central
Europe. // The FAA also estimates that by 1993 traffic on
Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a passenger mile
basis. // Consider, too, that more than 1,200 U.S. companies
have invested over $4 billion in the People's Republic of China
-- and that China buys about $5 billion worth of American
products -- from computers to cotton. Take away these products -
- and you take American jobs. //
5
Two weeks ago, I moved to expand this growth by extending
Most Favored Nation status to China. I knew that ending MFN
would dramatically increase the cost of Chinese imports, and also
cripple Hong Kong -- a bastion of freedom and free trade and
investor in South China's export industries. // Moreover, I
recognized what many critics of MFN have either forgotten or
never knew. To influence China, one cannot isolate China. //
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American interests. It is an extension of American
principles.
This moral dimension requires us to advance the
Through engalement with China and in response
to my extending MFN last year - Professor 7ang Lizhi is
cause of freedom by understanding that often countries confront
moral free today in this country, He even enjoys that precious freedm-
ambiguity. Some argue that a nation as moral and just as
before the
ours should not taint itself by dealing with nations less moral
the freedom to differ publicly with this country's policies, as he has done
n
Congress.
and just. But this counsel offers up self-righteousness drapéd
I have another example of The benefit of engalement,
in a false morality. You do not reform a world by ignoring it.
no matter how distateful wr may find dealing with
// This is the reason we have taken an intelligent stand on
those who violate human rights. Last year, over strong
China objections not in the Congress and in The nation at large,
-- grandstand at liberty's expense. / Here are the
/ Vetoed the Pelosi Bill legislation intended to
results: Between 1988 and 1990, emigration from China rose by 84
protect students in this curriting, If that bill had become
per cent; prominent dissidents were released; and the regime has
accounted for many of the casualties of Tienanmen Square. //
law, / am convinced Beijing would have seized on it as a
pretixt Is it to end the practice of permitting Chinese young people
enough? Not nearly and we will continue to urge
China to internally reform and externally rejoin the community of
to study in The United States. Instead, / extended
nations. We cannot be sure of success. We can be sure that
even greater protections than provided in The Pelosi Bill
without through American an Executive dialogue, order. the free The exchange results of of goods continued and ideas
between East Asia and the United States would die a certain death
engagement are clear: in the last year alive, the
through number critics of visas issued to Chinen Students and scholars to
who now denounce MFN. //
study in the United States was 11,500 That's 11500
opportunities fulfilled that night have been forgone
if we did not stay engaged
6
I spoke earlier of the ideals which enrich the Asian/Pacific
community. Let me close with a passage from a Chinese author --
Lin Yutang -- who wrote brilliantly of their importance. //
"Today," he said, "we are afraid of the simple words like
goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good
old words because we don't believe in the good old values." //
Asian-Americans have always believed in these values.
Respect for dignity / the primacy of the individual / the need
to join a cause larger than ourselves. God bless what you done
for our country, and thank you for this occasion. And God bless
the Nation you so richly love -- the United States of America.
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