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Asian/Pacific American Salute to the President Fountain Valley, CA 6/16/91 [OA 8324] [2]
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Asian/Pacific American Salute to the President Fountain Valley, CA 6/16/91 [OA 8324] [2]
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MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
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Speech File Backup Files
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Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
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Folder ID Number:
13760-010
Folder Title:
Asian/Pacific American Salute to the President Fountain Valley, CA 6/16/91 [OA 8324] [2]
Stack:
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26
21
4
6
(Smith/Grossman)
May 1, 1991
Draft One
ASIA
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH
ROOM 450
MONDAY, MAY 6, 1991
10:00 A.M.
Mr. Solomon, Mr. Williams, Mr. Dunne, Mr. Haas, ladies and
gentlemen, my fellow Americans.
An Oriental proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and
'tranquility,' are worth a thousand pieces of gold. " Well, my
pleasure in welcoming you to the White House would be worth a
thousand times that total. //
We gather today in a special month -- Asian/Pacific American
Heritage Month. And as special friends. In particular, I want
to thank three people. Jeanie Jew, who created the idea of
Heritage Month. / Frank Horton, the chief sponsor of the
Heritage Month legislation. / And Ruby Moy, Chairman of the
Congressional Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month Caucus. //
Most of all, we assemble here for a special reason: To
that
salute a community which has enriched America's community --
socially, culturally, economically, spiritually. //
((Someone once told me of a restaurant in China where three
American tourists walked in wearing the most outlandish safari
clothes, complete with Panama hats, backpacks, videocameras, a
brace of walkmans, and a few Chinese phrases picked up from a
stateside friend who happens to own a wok. //
2
( (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:
Quietly, through excellence, with the values of your lives.
Those values are discipline and self-sacrifice. An abiding
belief in work. A soaring love of freedom. Values which that brought
your parents, grandparents, and some of you to America. Values
that
which are now uplifting America.
I think, for example, of pioneers like An Wang, founder of
Wang Laboratories. / Or Henry Tang and I.M. Pei. / Or Seiji
Ozawa. / Or physicist Leo Esaki. / Or Sichan Siv of our White
House staff. //
Most of you know his story. In 1976, Sichan escaped from
Cambodia, spent three months in a refuge camp in Thailand, and
finally made his way to the United States. Since then, to quote
his words, "I have experienced the real values of freedom, peace,
prosperity, independence, and democracy. The correct spelling of
these words is A-M-E-R-I-C-A. //
Like you, Sichan Siv came to find a better life. And you're
finding it. You came to build a better America. And you're
building it. Creating new jobs. Enhancing our our schools, the
law, our small and large businesses. In short, honoring your
heritage by the lives you lead. //
For that, I congratulate you. / In a personal sense, having
served as Ambassador to China, I thank you. / And let me leave
3
you with an Oriental proverb. It goes, "One generation opens the
road upon which another generation travels."
You have opened the road of opportunity and human dignity -
throwing wide the horizons of tomorrow. In coming years, I
know that future generations will salute you on their travels. /
Thank you for coming here, and God bless the United States of
America.
# # # #
(Smith/Grossman)
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC
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.) ) //
Even more, 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. /
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
2
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. )) //
( (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. //
3
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. //
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
E
management and advisory rolls than any President in history / the
4
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 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. //
5
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. //
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. " //
6
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.
#
#
#
#
Dooley
OUTLINE/Yale Commencement
I. Introductory/Acknowledgements.
A. Yale days recalled.
B. The world on June 20, 1948.
1. Berlin Blockade
2. Marshall Plan passed.
3. First UN Peacekeeping mission -- to Middle East.
II. Our world of dramatic change -- America's role as catalyst.
A. Cold War, Berlin Wall -- fall of communism/triumph of
the democratic idea.
B. Ideals we seek to promote:
1. Freedom and Democracy
2. Human Rights
3. Shared commitment to stability.
III. The means to these ends: American Engagement.
A. In the world -- positive affects. examples - angry voices Berlin
Eastern Europeairlit
B. In Asia: rise of democracy, emergence of free markets. 56H
1. South Korea, Taiwan: from autocracy to democracy.
2. US will now back Taiwan's membership in GATT.
63
IV. American Engagement in China.
74 Afgnion
A. Engagement allows for tough stance on matters of
principle.
POTUS first
1. Post-Tignanmen restrictions.
juaranteed rights of students
B. US will push forward on:
1. Democratization and Human Rights. Tibet.
2. Free trade.
3. Military restrain.
C. Counterproductive to revoke MFN.
1. Critics case considered.
2. Hurts South China region most -- center of
democ./free market movement.
3. We cannot isolate China if we hope to influence it.
4. Hong Kong
D. Moral Dimensilon.
1. Is it more moral to ostracize and isolate -- or to
engage, encourage positive change?
1971-Gengress
2. Belief in the power of the democratic idea --
maintaining contact with China best route to
democratic change.
V.
Closing charge to graduates.
MFN start 1980 - Carter quote
w/market econs come other freedoms - inevitable
ASIAN/PACIFIC HERITAGE MONTH \ ROOM 450
MONDAY, MAY 6, 1991 \ 10:30 A.M.
MR. SOLOMON, MR. WILLIAMS, MR. DUNNE, DR. HAASS,
Joy CHERIAN. DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS FROM THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS. Gov.
PETER TALI COLEMAN. ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS: ELAIN
CHAO, WENDY GRAMM AND CINDY DAUB. MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM
CHEN, COMMANDING GENERAL OF THE U.S. ARMY MISSILE
COMMAND, VETERANS OF OPERATION DESERT STORM, YEE CHANG
HANG OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY.
- 2 -
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MY FELLOW AMERICANS. It's A
PLEASURE TO WELCOME YOU ALL TO THE WHITE HOUSE. //
THIS IS A TIME WHEN OUR HEARTS ARE FILLED WITH
PRIDE AND BROTHERHOOD. BUT I KNOW THAT IN ALL OF OUR
HEARTS, THERE IS A PART SET ASIDE FOR THE TERRIBLE
HUMAN SUFFERING IN BANGLADESH. I'VE SENT A MESSAGE TO
PRIME MINISTER ZIA EXPRESSING THE SYMPATHY AND
SOLIDARITY WE ALL FEEL FOR HIM AND HIS PEOPLE AT THIS
TIME.
- 3 -
OUR GOVERNMENT IS POISED TO FOLLOW THAT MESSAGE THROUGH
WITH ASSISTANCE -- RELIEF FUNDS, FOOD, MEDICINE, AND
MORE. I KNOW WE MAY NEVER BE ABLE TO SHELTER FRIENDS
FROM SUCH STORMS, BUT THEIR HOPES MUST ALWAYS FIND
SHELTER IN OUR PRAYERS.
OUR THOUGHTS ALSO ARE WITH PAT SAIKI, THE DIRECTOR
OF OUR SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. PAT HAD INTENDED
TO BE HERE WITH US TODAY, BUT AS MANY OF YOU KNOW, HER
HUSBAND, DR. STANLEY SAIKI, DIED UNEXPECTEDLY LAST
WEEK.
- 4 -
TODAY WE GATHER WITH SPECIAL FRIENDS TO CELEBRATE A
SPECIAL MONTH -- ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH.
IN PARTICULAR, I WANT TO THANK SENATOR DANIEL INOUYE
AND REPRESENTATIVE FRANK HORTON, THE CHIEF SPONSOR OF
THE HERITAGE MONTH LEGISLATION. //
WE ASSEMBLE HERE FOR A SPECIAL REASON: To SALUTE A
COMMUNITY WHICH HAS ENRICHED AMERICA'S COMMUNITY --
SOCIALLY, CULTURALLY, ECONOMICALLY, SPIRITUALLY. //
- 5 -
((SOMEONE ONCE TOLD ME OF A RESTAURANT IN CHINA
WHERE THREE AMERICAN TOURISTS WALKED IN WEARING THE
MOST OUTLANDISH SAFARI CLOTHES, COMPLETE WITH PANAMA
HATS, BACKPACKS, VIDEOCAMERAS, A BRACE OF WALKMANS, AND
A FEW CHINESE PHRASES PICKED UP FROM A STATESIDE FRIEND
WHO HAPPENS TO OWN A WOK. //
((THE FRIENDS STOOD AROUND LOOKING FOR A WAITER,
AND FINALLY ONE ASKED IN A LOUD VOICE: "How DO WE
ATTRACT ATTENTION?")) //
- 6 -
THAT'S ONE WAY TO ATTRACT ATTENTION. You've CHOSEN
ANOTHER WAY: QUIETLY, THROUGH EXCELLENCE, WITH THE
VALUES OF YOUR LIVES.
THOSE VALUES ARE DISCIPLINE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. AN
ABIDING BELIEF IN WORK. A SOARING LOVE OF FREEDOM.
VALUES THAT BROUGHT YOUR PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, AND
SOME OF YOU TO AMERICA. VALUES THAT ARE NOW UPLIFTING
AMERICA.
- 7 -
I THINK, FOR EXAMPLE, OF PIONEERS LIKE AN WANG,
FOUNDER OF WANG LABORATORIES. / OF HENRY TANG. / SEIJI
OZAWA. / OF PHYSICIST LEO ESAKI. / OR FIGURE SKATER,
CHRISTI YAMAGUCHI. / OR OUR OWN SICHAN SIV, RIGHT HERE
IN THE WHITE HOUSE. //
LIKE SICHAN SIV, MANY ASIAN-AMERICANS CAME TO
AMERICA TO FIND A BETTER LIFE. AND MILLIONS HAVE FOUND
IT. MILLIONS CAME TO HELP BUILD A BETTER AMERICA. AND
IT IS A BETTER AMERICA FOR THEIR PRESENCE.
- 8 -
THESE ARE PEOPLE IN THIS VERY ROOM WHO ARE CREATING NEW
JOBS. ENHANCING OUR SCHOOLS, THE LAW, OUR SMALL AND
LARGE BUSINESSES. IN SHORT, HONORING YOUR HERITAGE BY
THE LIVES YOU LEAD. //
FOR THAT, I CONGRATULATE YOU. / IN A PERSONAL
SENSE, HAVING SERVED IN ASIA, I THANK YOU. / AND LET ME
LEAVE YOU WITH AN ASIAN PROVERB. IT GOES, "ONE
GENERATION OPENS THE ROAD UPON WHICH ANOTHER GENERATION
TRAVELS."
- 9 -
You HAVE OPENED THE ROAD OF OPPORTUNITY AND HUMAN
DIGNITY -- THROWING WIDE THE HORIZONS OF TOMORROW. IN
COMING YEARS, I KNOW THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL
SALUTE YOU ON THEIR TRAVELS. / THANK YOU FOR COMING
HERE, AND GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Now,
I WOULD LIKE TO ASK OUR DESERT STORM VETERANS To JOIN
ME AS I SIGN THE PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING MAY OF THIS
YEAR AND NEXT, ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH.
#
#
#
MA%-28-91 TUE 15:14 U-M STUDENT SERVICES
P.02
GREAT OF MICHIGAN AND THE
The University of Michigan
E
$89
1817
OFFICE ()f MINORITY STUDENT SERVICES
2304 MICHIGAN UNION
Ann Adsor, Michigan 48109-1349
(313) 763-9044
May 28, 1991
Mr. Jim Shaffer
Office of the President for Public Liaisons
Room 128 Old Executive Office Building
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. Shaffer:
Per our conversation, enclosed is Yee Chang's bio and the letter, which I mailed to Mr.
Sichan Siv a few weeks ago. Further information-regarding Yee Chang, he is the third
child of eight children, and he along with the whole family emigrated to the United States in
September of 1976. Again, Yee Chang is the first of six million Hmongs in the world to
graduate from this most prestigious institution.
I hope that this will be some help to you. Please feel free to contact me if you have further
questions.
Sincerely,
new YeeLeng Hang
Asian American Representative
Enc.
P.S. I will be in D.C. from Saturday to Monday, June 8-10, 1991 and would very much
like to meet Mr. Siv for either lunch or dinner if his calendar permits. I would like to
discuss with him regarding the issues and developments in the countries of Southeast Asia.
STUDENT
SERVICES
P.03
Wednesday, April 24, 1991
3159 Sceniclake Dr., Apt. #11
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108
(313) 971-5635 Home
(313) 763-9044 Work
Mr. Sichan Siv
Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaisons
Room 128 Old Executive Office Building
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. Siv:
Greetings! I hope that this letter finds you in good and fine health.
In the Fall of 1987, my younger brother, YeeChang 1 lang entered the United States
Military Academy at West Point. This June 1st, he will be the first Hmong American from
Laos to graduate from this most prestigious military academy.
He will be making history, and will be a source of inspiration and leadership to the Hmong
American community in this country. My people have demonstrated exemplary loyalty and
patriotism to the United States of America in our close association with the Central
Intelligent Agency during the Vietnam 'Struggle' in Laos. My father faithfully served in
that struggle as a Major in the Office of Intelligence.
My father is very pleased and filled with pride that one of his sons has followed him into
the army and will faithfully serve this new found country as he did the old country. It is
with such pride that I write on my father's behalf to request of your assistance. My father
heart's desire is to have a photo session with the President, but knowing that such request
is nearly impossible, he would appreciate a personal letter of congratulation and a photo
from the President of the United States to commemorate my brother's graduation from
West Point. It would be a token that the United States has not forgotten her old allies, and
it would mean very much to him, the family, and to the 1 Imong American community.
Enclosed please find YeeChang's bio. I thank you for your time and look forward to
hearing from you. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
YeeLeng Hang
Enclosure
15:15 U-M STUDENT SERVICES
P.04
Yee Chang Hang
P.O. Box 2937
3304 South Van Buren Road
West Point, New York 10997
Richville, Michigan 48758
(914) 938-4633
(517) 868-3444
Education:
Unites States Military Academy(USMA)
01 June 1991
West Point, New York
Reese High School
07 June 1987
Reese, Michigan
Leadership
Experience:
Unites States Military Academy, West Point
Platoon Leader, 1991
Squad Leader, 1990
Team Leader, 1989
Reese High School
President, Student Council, 1986-87
Vice President, National Honors Society, 1986-87
Vice President, German Club, 1986-87
Treasurer, German Club, 1984-86
Honors:
Salutatorian, Reese High School, 1987
National Honors Society, 1986, '87
National Scholar/Athlete Award, 1987
Michigan Thumb Academic All-Conference, 1987
References Available upon request
MAY-28-91 TUE 15:13 U-M STUDENT SERVICES
P.01
OF
JeanJu
THE
Info fa
1817
Hmory graduate
WestPoint Speesh.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
FAX (313) 747-4133
Today's Date: 5-28-91
TO: MR. Jim Shafter LOCATION:
FROM: MR. YEELENG HANG
DEPT: MINORITY STUDENT SERVICES
ADDRESS: 2304 MICHIGAN UNION
PHONE NUMBER: 763-9044
Total number of pages, including cover sheet: of
Comments: YEECHANG'S Bio CENTER To Ma SKAN sid
*If all pages are not received, please notify sender immediately.
To
Fred
Date
6/11
Time 2:53
0315
1115
WHILE YOU WERE OUT
M
Arman
of
Phone
879-7898
Area Code
Number
Extension
TELEPHONED
PLEASE CALL
CALLED TO SEE YOU
WILL CALL AGAIN
WANTS TO SEE YOU
URGENT
RETURNED YOUR CALL
Message
Roman 212/656-5168 Janus
Visitor's or.
20 Broad St
NY Stock Exchange
Operator
AMPAD
EFFICIENCY®
23-023 CARBONLESS
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
June 5, 1991
Dear Friend:
On behalf of President Bush, I would like to invite you to join
him and the Asian/Pacific community at the first "ASIAN/PACIFIC
AMERICAN SALUTE TO THE PRESIDENT AND MRS. BUSH."
This historical event will take place on Sunday, June 16, 1991 at
Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley, California.
Admission tickets and further information may be obtained from
The President's Welcoming Committee headquartered at:
UCC Plaza
2338 East Anaheim Street, 2nd Floor
Long Beach, California 90804
Phone: 213-433-2490
Fax: 213-433-0564
I hope you will be able to join us at this important event which
will salute the President and Mrs. Bush, honor Asian and Pacific
heritage, and celebrate the uniqueness of America.
I look forward to having the pleasure of your company.
Sincerely,
Sichan Siv
Deputy Assistant to the President
For Public Liaison
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
If
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.
Add: Thanksmer Tour arts. to its
staffed
(Smith/Grossman)
023
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
Fontain Vally
ORANGE-COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
chang Chang-Hang Hang
SUNDA MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
American
12:00
PM
Yee Hang Chang -- the first Hmong from Laos to graduate from
OR Lennie per
the United States Military Academy -- thank you for that
herson
Porntip CPAWN tip)
introduction,
Mr. Kwan, Miss Nahkirunkanok [NA-Kee-run-kah-
Add
Congressman nook) Elizábeth Szu (SOO), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo (Nn-
Dornan
GO), John Tsu (SOO), my fellow Americans. //
An Oriental proverb says, "The two words, peace' and
Speech
'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. //
Steham
Consider how according tó Census data on average family
American
USAToday
incomes Japánese Americans and Asian Indians have made the
Auotin
LEA.
American Dream reality. // Or how the latest National Assessment Furse
2645
of Educational Progress shows Asián-Americans excelling in
subjects such as math. // Yet the best is still ahead. Over the
over
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
Or Stehan Siv
See
Asia
I.M. Pei and physicist Leo Esaki. n They know how merit and
Pare
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
This
propose actions that broaden opportunity. Because education is
the great uplifter, we have launched the America 2000 Education
ok per
strategy. / And I am proud to have named more Asians to top
PPO
Add
Katja
management and advisory roles than any President in history / the
Bullock
Pat saiki
first Asian deputy secrétary of a Cabinet department / the first
ppo
the first
Asian-American as an ambassador. 111 I am proud not because they
Julia chang- Bloch
SICHAN SHOULD
tsian- is Americane
were Asian -- but because they were the best men and women for
BE
to head of a
the job. //
And of course our our
Sicham Siv
INCLUDED
govt. agray
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
Dong
Europe. // The FAA also estimates that by 1993 traffic on
Paul
5746
Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a passenger mile
has
basis. // Consider, too, that more than 1,200 U.S. companies
said
have invested over $4 billion in the People's Republic of China
he
has
-- and that China buys about $5 billion worth of American
scrutibed
products -- from computers to cotton. Take away these products
-
the
- and you take American jobs. //
figues
THREE
was wks 2 as 5
weeks ago, I moved to expand this growth by extending China's
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
DP
Stated
per cent; prominent dissidents were released; and the regime has
sembled
accounted for many of the casúalties of Tienanmen Square. //
frsp
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 simple words like
'89
goodness and mercy and kindness. We don't believe in the good
SOU
old words because we don't believe in the good old values "
//
Asian-Americans have always believed in these values any
meal
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.
#
#
#
#
Doug Paul
6
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-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 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-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 love and
enrich -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
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
it, darn it: don't hold it against him. (Laughter.) Congressman
Faleomavaega.
Elaine Chao, our Deputy Secretary of Transportation back
here. (Applause.) And to the others -- Mr. Kwan, Miss Porntip,
Slizabeth 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 Americans. I'm proud to be with you on this very special day.
(Applause.)
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 supero 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
this country. These ideals have always uplifted the United States of
America.
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
MORE
- 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 PAA 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 80 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 (Applause.) Guard, and the Marines that made our country proud again."
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 Shites 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 univorsities,
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. ile 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. He'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. And 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
P.03
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 curselves.
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
are getting a little better, but I want to see them good, the way you
people want them right hero.
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
country, America, and for the countries from which you came. Many
thanks. And may God bless you all. But most of all, may God bless
the (Applause.) United States of America. Thank you very much. Thank you.
END
12:55 P.M. PDT
(Smith/Grossman)
June 9, 1991
Draft One
PACIFIC
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
MONDAY Ssuds JUNE 16, 1991
Yee Hang Chang -- the first Hmong from Laos to graduate from
the United States Military Academy -- thank you for that
M55
introduction. / Mr. Kwan, Mr. Nahkirunkanok [-PAWN tip-NA Kee-
run-kah-nook), Elizabeth Szu (soo), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE)
Ngo, Jogn 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. //
((I'm delighted to speak to a turnout that is the largest in
the Bush Administration. // Actually, since we are on a golf
course, I'm used to crowds this size. Last time I played, it
Curt
took this many people to help find my ball.) ) //
Cuttome
in
((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
Mally.
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.) ) //
In truth, I am proud to have the chance today 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 an abiding love of
freedom. / They are the ideals which brought your grand-parents,
2
parents, and some of you to America. Ideals which are now
uplifting America. //
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. // You came in search of
opportunity -- and you're finding it. You came to build a better
Great
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our law, 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, Japanese Americans
and Asian Indians have higher average family incomes than any
other group. // Or how the latest National Assessment of
Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans far ahead of other
groups in subjects such as math. // ( (No wonder Barbara wants me
to be computer-literate.) ) // 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.W. 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, ánd finally
one asked in a loud voice: "HOW do we attract attention?").)
N
That's one way to attract attention You've chosén another way.
but you
You've chosen to rely on yourself -- not set-aside
preferences. You haven't asked what government can do for you.
You've asked what you can do -- by 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 say we should
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: The leprosy of racial
quotas. Quotas divide, not unite. They brutalize talented,
enterprising Americans like the thousands of Asian students in
our universities who study science and engineering. // Today,
let me reaffirm my position. I will not sign any Civil Rights
bill which allows -- explicitly, or implicitly -- racial quotas.
Nor will our Administration support the practice known as "race-
norming" -- which considers minorities so inferior that their
tests must be scored separately for whites. // Race-norming is,
4
in fact, race-baiting. // It drives Americans apart instead of
bringing them together. //
When an American knocks at opportunity's door, he shouldn't
have to show color I.D. That's why our Administration will fight
any legislation that lessens opportunity for the Asian/Pacific
community. / Why we have launched our America 2000 Education
strategy -- for education is truly colorblind. /
Why really not
because they are Asian, but because they are qualified -- I have
appointed more Asians to top management and advisory rolls than
any President in history -- the first Asian deputy secretary of a
Cabinet department -- the first Asian-American as an ambassador.
// If America is to grow at home, we must reward those who work
we
the hardest -- not those who scream the loudest. //
dat,
are
on!
Let me speak now of an area abroad where the same equation
holds. I refer to East Asia, and how this dynamic region can
A
this nest really the main
spur America's growth. // Already, our trans-Pacific trade as a
whole has more than doubled that between America and Europe. In
can sthis?
1990, we exported to Singapore more than to Spain or Italy / to
two
quine move is
Malaysia more than to the Soviet Union / to Indonesia more than
to all or Central Europe. // The FAA also estimates that by 1993
not sherpet
traffic on Pacific routes will surpass the Atlantic on a
passenger mile basis. // Driven by this economic growth and
already
trade, South Korea and Taiwan have shed authoritarian rule in
THIS
favor of democracy and free trade. This same approach guides our
B
TO NEEDS BE
policy toward the People's Republic of China, home to fully one-
THENTRAL
fifth of the world's people. //
POINT
MFN is good for us
B(
Showth
Democratization
C
Moral ag
ENGAGEMENT
5
D
Innocent bystomar ang
You do not reform a world by ignoring it. So, two weeks
C
ago, I announced extending Most Favored Nation status to China.
I did so for many reasons. // First, China buys about $5 billion
worth of American products -- from computers to cotton. Take
A
away these products -- and you take American jobs. // I acted
also to protect over $4 billion in U.S. investments -- involving
over 1,200 companies -- in China. Lose MFN -- and you
dramatically increase the cost of Chinese imports. // I realized
that ending MFN would cripple Hong Kong -- a bastion of freedom
a
and free trade and investor in South China's export industries.
// Finally, I recognized that many critics of MFN have either
forgotten of never knew. To influence China, one cannot isolate
e
China. //
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American principles. It is an extension of
American principles. This moral dimension requires us to advance
C
the cause of freedom -- not snub nations not wholly free. So 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 like Mr. Fang Lizhi were released; and the regime has
accounted for many of the casualties of Tieneman Square. //
Suod
Is it enough? Not nearly -- and we will continue to urge
important to make this part
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, true growth -- the free exchange of
6
goods and ideas between East Asia and the United States -- would
die a certain death through critics who -- loudly, and
irrationally -- now denounce MFN. //
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 human dignity / the primacy of the individual / the
need to enlist in a cause larger than ourselves. // God bless
what you done for this country, and thank you for this occasion.
And God bless the Nation you so richly love -- the United States
of America.
#
#
#
#
DOUG GAMBLE
424-36th Place
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
June 7/91
(213) 546-6409
TO: CHRISTINA MARTIN
ASIAN-PACIFIC SALUTE (Curt Smith)
THERE ARE ALMOST AS MANY PEOPLE HERE TODAY AS THERE WERE AT THE LAST BUSH
FAMILY REUNION.
I'M USED TO SEEING A CROWD LIKE THIS ON A GOLF COURSE. LAST TIME I PLAYED,
IT TOOK THIS MANY PEOPLE TO HELP FIND MY BALL.
TWO OF THE LOVES IN MY LIFE ARE GOLF AND CHINESE FOOD, AND I FIND A SIMILARITY
BETWEEN THE TWO. AN HOUR AFTER I PLAY, I WANT TO PLAY AGAIN.
MANY OF YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD HOW QUICKLY I PLAY GOLF. I THINK THIS SITE WAS
CHOSEN WITH THE HOPE THAT, WHEN I GIVE A SPEECH ON A GOLF COURSE, IT GOES JUST AS
FAST.
TODAY IS FATHER'S DAY, AND MY KIDS KNOW ME AS A FATHER WHO GUIDED THEM THROUGH
LIFE BY USING THOSE MAGIC THREE LITTLE WORDS: "ASK YOUR MOTHER."
AS SOMEONE WHO'S JUST HAD A BIRTHDAY, IT'S A PLEASURE TO BE WITH PEOPLE WHOSE
CULTURE REVERES OLD AGE.
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 (SOO), 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.
FAX COVER SHEET
Date: June 8, 1991
Log No.
Time: 3:30 pm
Number of Pages:
3
(Including cover sheet)
TO:
FROM:
Mr./Ms Jenniffer A. Grossman
Mr./Ms. Elizabeth Szu
Chinese American Association
Office of Presidential
Of Southern California
Of:
Of:
Speechwriting
FAX #: (202) 456 - 6218
Address: PO Box 7000-54
Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
FAX #:
COPY TO:
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
Confidential
X
Urgent
Please reply
X
For your information
MESSAGE:
Jennifer,
Please call me if you have any questions,
What you think of these issues ?
Elizabeth Szu
(213) 541 - 6237
If not received correctly, please call:
Printed in U.S.A. $
AVERY 1968
REORDER NO 47294
Page 1
ISSUES THAT ASIAN AMERICAN CONCERNED WITH :
1.
Higher education -- quotas
We would like President Bush to address the issue of quotas
QUOTAS
now established by many of the most prestigious universities
in America. Since the vast majority of Asian students
who study science and engineering, have been
participating in ongoing U.S. research projects, their
contribution to the scientific advancement of American
society as a whole is considerable. Continuation of such a
GROWTH
guota system, therefore, works against the welfare of not
only the Asians thus excluded but against American social
welfare as a whole. They should therefore be abolished.
2. Education all levels -- Asian cultures and languages
Asian languages and cultures are poorly appreciated in
mainstream America. Those who complain of trade barriers
working against American exporters fail to take into account
many of the cultural and linguistic factors that militate
against a product or service establishing a significant
beachhead in the target economy when its culture is not
adequately understood. To counter this, programs should be
put in place at all levels of society, to engender from an
early age a fluency in Asian languages and an appreciation
of each culture.
3. Human rights in China
We hope that concern fot human rights in the Peoples
Republic of China will remain high on the President's
agenda. We believe that trade sanctions are not called for,
and while "leverage" for the short term may be somewhat
lessened, the objective of enhancement of the human rights
record in China can be achieved through increased contact--
by trade and other means.
4. Rights of Asian immigrants
We see three problems. First, although Congress increased
the number of Asians being allowed Into the U.S. annually
by one-third, the U.S. embassies are reluctant to grant
visas--whether for immigrant, business, investment or
tourist purposes. Unnecessary barriers are put in their way.
Second, upon arrival at U.S. port of entry, they are often
given a hard time and sometimes even insulted. No one can
feel welcome if, upon arrival, they are made to feel as if
their very entry is a criminal act. Third, immigrants, once
here, are frequently subjected to indignities and injustices
on the part of the INS. If one is on track to becoming a
U.S. citizen, one must wait an average of 8-9 years, during
which time the investigation branch of the INS sees fit to
harass, intimidate, and even violate the law itself. Asian
immigrants subjected to these indignities often feel that
the mere fact of their being Asian sets them apart in the
eyes of the INS.
Page 2
5.
Promotion of Asian political leadership
Asian Americans should not be seen solely as important
allies whenever a political campaign is run, but should be
actively encouraged to participate in government. While
Asian Americans enjoy wide recognition for their
accomplishments in the arts, the sciences, education, etc.,
they are passed over when it comes time for dispensing
political appointments. We should like to see President Bush
acknowledge that the accomplishments of Asian Americans in
many walks of American life eminently qualifies them for
political leadership.
6.
Family values as an anti-crime weapon
If President Bush were to pay tribute to the standard that
VALUE'S
Asian Americans have set in family values, this will be a
way of saying that (1) all Americans have something of
value to learn from Asian Americans, and (2) promoting of
family values is probably THE most important contribution
that all of us can make towards reversing the climbing crime
rate.
(Smith/Grossman)
June 13, 1991
Draft Four
PACIFIC.TS
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: ASIA/PACIFIC RALLY
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
Sen
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 1991
Consa.
12:00 p.m.
Yee Changy Hang Hmong American from Laos to
John Say moun the on first Chris Cox
graduate from the United States Military Dana Academy thank you for
Congressment Rohrabacher
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. 11 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, our trans-Pacific trade has more than doubled the
commerce between America and Europe. In 1990, we exported to
Singapore more than to Spain or Italy / to Malaysia more than to
Y
the Soviet Union 10 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. 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; growth, not boycotts.
Asian-Americans certainly understand that competence counts.
You know that the American Dream calls upon the human heart and
about
grown a
Las.
Alys,
[ Love vallied 5 growch aboved Incespech
01
Now, grouch at Lane.
5
will. It does not discriminate on the basis of 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 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 set at odds people who
ought to be working together to make ours a better land. They
slam shut opportunity's door. Here in California and across the
nation, we have seen the conflicts that quotas can incite -- and
we know that we ought to promote excellence and opportunity
instead. //
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 do 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
those who discriminate against qualified men and women. We have
tried to build a spirit of cooperation, not litigation.
(Smith/Grossman)
June 10, 1991
Draft Two
PACIFIC
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,
Jogn 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. //
((I'm delighted to speak to a turnout that is the largest in
the Bush Administration. // 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.) ) //
Even more, 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. /
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
2
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our law, 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, Japanese Americans
and Asian Indians have higher average family incomes than any
other group. // Or how the latest National Assessment of
Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans far ahead of other
groups in subjects such as math. // ( (No wonder Barbara wants me
to be computer-literate.) ) // 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.W. 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. )) //
( (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 -- by yourself -- for your family and your
community. //
3
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 say we should
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: The leprosy of racial
quotas. Quotas divide, not unite. They brutalize talented,
enterprising Americans like the thousands of Asian students in
our universities who study science and engineering. // Today,
let me restate my position. I will not sign any Civil Rights
bill which allows -- explicitly, or implicitly -- racial quotas.
Nor will our Administration support the practice known as "race-
norming" -- which considers minorities so inferior that their
tests must be scored separately for whites. // Race-norming is,
in fact, race-baiting. // It drives Americans apart instead of
bringing them together. //
When an American knocks at opportunity's door, he shouldn't
have to show color I.D. That's why our Administration will fight
any legislation that lessens opportunity for the Asian/Pacific
community. / Why we have launched our America 2000 Education
strategy -- for education is the great uplifter. / Why -- not
because they are Asian, but because they are qualified -- I have
4
appointed more Asians to top management and advisory rolls than
any President in history -- the first Asian deputy secretary of a
Cabinet department -- the first Asian-American as an ambassador.
// If America is to grow at home, we must reward those who work
the hardest -- not those who scream the loudest. //
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
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. //
5
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American principles. It is an extension of
American principles. This moral dimension requires us to advance
the cause of freedom -- not snub nations not wholly free. So 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 like Mr. Fang Lizhi were released; and the regime has
accounted for many of the casualties of Tieneman 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, true growth --- the free exchange of
goods and ideas between East Asia and the United States -- would
die a certain death through critics who -- loudly, and
irrationally -- now denounce MFN. //
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 human dignity / the primacy of the individual / the
need to enlist in a cause larger than ourselves. // God bless
what you done for this country, and thank you for this occasion.
6
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
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.) ) //
Even more, 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. /
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
2
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. )) //
( (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. //
3
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. //
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 rolls than any President in history / the
4
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 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. //
5
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. //
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. " //
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 (soo), 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.
(Smith/Grossman)
June 11, 1991
Draft Three
PACIFIC
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 (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.) ) //
Even more, 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. /
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
2
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, Japanese Americans
and Asian Indians have higher average family incomes than any
other group. // Or how the latest National Assessment of
Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans far ahead of other
groups 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. )) //
( (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. //
3
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,
00
Americans have thought of themselves not as special interest
23 MILL you
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
sot I've 8009
Americans -- not preferential treatment for some. //
record
You know what I'm talking about: The leprosy of racial
that
quotas. Quotas divide, not unite. They harm talented Americans
like the thousands of Asian students in our universities who
study science and engineering. // Today, let me restate my
je
but
position. I will not sign any Civil Rights bill which allows
encourages
quotas -- explicitly, or implicitly. / Nor will our
Administration support the practice of "race-norming" -- which musts
considers minorities so inferior that their tests must be scored
by Separaly
separately for von whites. Race-norming is, in fact, race baiting
It drives Americans apart instead of bringing them together. //
When an American knocks at opportunity's door, he shouldn't
have to show color I.D. That's why our Administration will fight
any legislation that lessens opportunity for the Asian/Pacific
community.
An But we propose a choirto Groaden opportunity
That's why we have launched our America 2000
Education strategy -- for education is the great uplifter. / Why
I have appointed more Asians to top management and advisory rolls
than any President in history -- the first Asian deputy secretary
almost cound like he system used apreferential
4
of a Cabinet department -- the first Asian-American as an
ambassador. // Not because they are Asian -- but because they are
qualified. //
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
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
Moral anbigists
5
principles. This moral dimension requires us to advance the
cause of freedom -- not snub nations not wholly free. So 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 -- shrilly, and irrationally -- now denounce
MFN. //
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 this country, and thank you for this occasion. And God bless
the Nation you so richly love -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
(Smith/Grossman)
June 10, 1991
Draft Two
PACIFIC
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 (SOO), Inder Singh (SING), Ky (KEE) Ngo,
[Un-GO]or
produciation,
Jogn [JON?] Tsu (SOO), my fellow Americans. // Nh-GO
Nuh-Go
An Oriental proverb says, "The two words, 'peace' and nnGo
'tranquility, are worth a thousand pieces of gold." My pleasure
in being here is worth a thousand times that total.
//
This is The layest crouds I've spoken +
nuG
((I'm delighted to speak to a turnout that is the largest in
my election to the Prendency.
the Bush Administration. // 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. )) //
Even more, 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. /
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
why
just
law? other professions?
2
America -- and you're building it. // You've enhanced our
schools, our law, 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, Japanese Americans
and Asian Indians have higher average family incomes than any
other group. // Or how the latest National Assessment of
Educational Progress shows Asian-Americans far ahead of other
groups in subjects such as math. // (No wonder Barbara wants me
?
to be computer-literate.) ) // 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
W
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.) ) //
( (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 -- by yourself -- for your family and your
community. //
be
for
ao
one saip this
3
a-fis such
No people understands more than Asians what really counts:
it
competence, not color. You know what matters is the human heart
the
thesult
and will -- not sex or creed or national orgin. // Historically,
Americans have thought of themselves not as special interest
their of
groups -- one pitted against the other -- but as individuals --
judged by what we are, and what we dream. // Some say we should
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: The leprosy of racial
quotas. Quotas divide, not unite. They harm talented Americans
like the thousands of Asian students in our universities who
study science and engineering. // Today, let me restate my
position. 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
considers minorities so inferior that their tests must be scored
separately for whites. Race-norming is, in fact, race-baiting.
It drives Americans apart instead of bringing them together. //
When an American knocks at opportunity's door, he shouldn't
have to show color I.D. That's why our Administration will fight
any legislation that lessens opportunity for the Asian/Pacific
community. / That's 1 Why we have launched our America 2000 Education
move to
strategy -- for education is the great uplifter. / Why
not
end of
because they are Asian, but because they are qualified -- I have
sentture
appointed more Asians to top management and advisory rolls than
4
any President in history -- the first Asian deputy secretary of a
Cabinet department -- the first Asian-American as an ambassador
N If America is to grow at home, we must reward those who work
the hardest -- not those who scream the loudest //
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
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. //
interests.
5
This Nation's foreign policy has always been more than an
expression of American principles. It is an extension of
American principles. This moral dimension requires us to advance
the cause of freedom -- not snub nations not wholly free. So 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 like Mr. Fang Lizhi were released; and the regime has
accounted for many of the casualties of Tienanmen Tieneman 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, true growth the free exchange of
goods and ideas between East Asia and the United States
would
die a certain death through critics who -- shrilly, and
irrationally -- now denounce MFN. //
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
6
for this country, and thank you for this occasion. And God bless
the Nation you so richly love -- the United States of America.
#
#
#
#
MILE SQUARE
Local city and private investment was also encour-
aged. A private concessionaire, the lessee of a por-
ENTRANCE
tion of the park property, opened the magnificent 18
HISTORY
hole public golf course in 1969. In addition, the City
INFORMATION
MILE
of Fountain Valley has leased 55 acres for the devel-
opment of a City Recreation and Cultural center. The
Originally agricultural acreage, this area has gone
completion of this site ended Phase I construction.
OPERATING HOURS
SQUARE
nrough many transitions relating to military opera-
November 1 to March 31 7
A.M.
to
6
P.M.
The park opened to the public in 1970. Response
ons.
April 1 to October 31
7 A.M. to 9 P.M.
from county residents was so overwhelming that
he 640-acre bean field, now Mile Square Regional
futher expansion was necessary. In the fall of 1973
Parking Fees:
ark, was acquired by the Navy in 1943. Located 5
Phase II construction was completed. This additional
$ 2.00 per vehicle per entry
REGIONAL
iles west of the Lighter-Than-Air Base in the rural
parcel increased park acreage by 45 acres. Further
ity of Fountain Valley, Mile Square offered ideal
expansion took place under Phase III development.
$ 10.00 per bus per entry
onditions for a training base. A triangular shaped
Completed in May of 1976, this construction added
$ 30.00 Annual Day-Use Pass per year
irstrip was constructed to simulate carrier type
a much needed 110 acres to the existing park devel-
(valid at County Regional Parks - prorated
ndings. The area was sparsely populated thus
opment. The David L. Baker Memorial Golf Course
pass available)
liminating the danger to the civilian population.
developed in 1987 completed the development of
PARK
$ 7.50 Annual Day-Use Pass per year - Senior Citi-
the 640-acre park.
zen (60 years or older and handicapped).
nmediately after World War II a new interest in heli-
opter aviation shifted the emphasis of the Mile
quare Training Base. In 1955 this land was com-
PLEASE
Groups:
All groups of 50 or more must obtain a group permit
issioned as a Helicopter Outlying Landing Field un-
at least 15 days in advance. Forms are available
er the jurisdiction of the Marine Corps Helicopter
County ordinances will be enforced for the protec-
from the park office.
acility, Tustin.
tion of all park users. Your cooperation is appreci-
ated.
Vith postwar de-escalation, the land encircling the
VICINITY MAP
irstrip reverted to agricultural use. This land was
Fires are permitted only in fireplaces and approved
camp stoves. FIRE PREVENTION MUST BE THE
ased to a private farming concern which planted
RIVERSIDE FRWY (91)
FIRST CONSIDERATION OF EVERY PERSON USING
trawberries and tomatoes. The military only spo-
THE PARK.
adically used the airstrip, particularly due to the
pid development of the City of Fountain Valley,
A speed limit of 10 mph is enforced at all times.
BROOKHURST
SANTA ANA
he city was rapidly approaching the status of a ma-
Consumption of intoxicents prohibited.
GARDEN
FRWY (22)
or metropolitan area. Tracts of houses were quickly
GROVE
ngulfing the lands surrounding Mile Square.
Firearms, weapons and fireworks are prohibited.
SAN
DIEGO
FRWY
NEWPORT FRWY (55)
Domestic animals must be restrained by a leash
EUCLID
uring this same period, a controversy developed re-
at all times (6 foot maximum).
EDINGER
arding this final disposition of the Mile Square prop-
Swimming or wading is not permited in the lakes.
WARNER
rty. Local homeowners exerted pressure to convert
Vehicle and motorized scooter operation is lim-
MILE SQUARE
is land to a public recreational area. In the early
FRWY
REGIONAL PARK
(405)
960's the Board of Supervisors, recognizing the
ited to paved roadways and parking areas.
eed for more county parks, adopted the Master
All model airplanes must have mufflers and meet
lan of Regional Parks. The Mile Square area was as-
88 decibel maximum noise level at 25 feet and
COURTESY OF THE
gned a position of high priority, and in 1967 a 30-
fly within the confines of the fenced hobby area.
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
ear lease was signed with the Department of Navy.
Please put all garbage and litter in trash recepta-
MILE SQUARE REGIONAL PARK
he conversion of Mile Square from a military instal-
cles.
16801 EUCLID STREET
tion to a regional park was the result of a partner-
THIS PARK DEPENDS ON THE VISITORS TO PRO-
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA 92708
nip of many levels of government. County applica-
TECT ALL WILDLIFE, NATURAL VEGETATION, GEO-
714/962-5549
on for state and federal financing was granted un-
LOGIC FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS. THESE
COUNTY OF ORANGE
er the State Beach, Park, Recreation and Historical
FEATURES ARE PROTECTED AND ARE NOT TO BE
EMA, HARBORS, BEACHES, AND PARKS
acility Bond Act of 1964. Further financing was
DAMAGED OR REMOVED FROM THE PARK
10852 Douglass Rd.
vailable through the County General Fund.
PREMISES.
Anaheim, CA 92806
County of Orange
714/567-6206
7/89
HARRORS-BEACHES-PARKS
MILE
EDINGER AVE.
17
SQUARE
DAVID L. BAKER
16
MEMORIAL GOLF COURSE
UNDER DEVELOPMENT
15
REGIONAL
14
13
PARK
12
10
11
R.C.
9
FACILITIES
TRAC
R.C.
Mile Square Regional Park is conveniently
TRAC
located in the City of Fountain Valley. The
cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove bor-
der this area, making the park easily acces-
ROCKETS
N
LANDSAILING
R.C.
sible to a large number of county residents.
FOUNTAIN VALLEY
TRAC
Mile Square is a multi-functional and com-
RECREATION CENTER
P
munity oriented park. This philosophy is re-
MILE SQUARE
flected both in the park's design and its rec-
HOBBY AREA
EUCLID ST.
reational facilities and activities. Areas for
team sports include baseball and soccer
fields, facilities for cross country runners,
FREE
FLIGHTS
P
and an archery range. Special events such
as championship archery meets, dog
8
shows, even classic car shows, are often
R.C. AIRCRAFT
7
held at Mile Square. The park's scenic four
P
de
miles of trails provide an ideal setting for
joggers and bicyclers. Although swimming
USER
CONTROL
SB-
is prohibited, many park visitors stay cool in
P
6
the refreshing spray pool. Also, a runway
P
5
for radio controlled airplanes and land sail-
ers and a newly developed children's play-
SB-2
ground complement the diverse recrea-
P
tional pleasures at Mile Square Regional
SB-
Park.
MILE SQUARE
P
4
PARK
COUNTY OF ORRNGE
GOLF COURSE
ENTRY
In
PARK OFFICE
BROOKHURST ST.
+
? C
CALIFORNIA
3
1
NON-DISCRIMINATION
Regulations of the U.S. Department of the Interior strict-
ly prohibit unlawful discrimination in departmental feder-
2
20
ally assisted programs on the basis of race, color, nation-
al origin, age or handicap. Any person who believes he
P
P
P
or she has been discriminated against in any way should
write to:
18 HOLE GOLF COURSE
MAINT.
Director, Office for Equal Opportunity
U.S. Department of the Interior
WARNER AVE.
Washington, D.C. 20240