[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 66 (Thursday, April 20, 2023)] [Senate] [Pages S1286-S1289] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Date: 2023-04-20
Chamber: SENATE
Mr. HOEVEN: recently I visited--as a matter of fact, this past week I was in South Korea and Taiwan, and I just want to describe what I learned there and talk about some ideas for advancing our interests in East Asia. The trip convinced me even more that our highest priority should be to cultivate close security and economic relationships with our fellow Democratic and free market allies and partners in the region. This is the best way to deter conflict and advance prosperity both in the United States and across the region. Let me start by addressing security. There is no shortage of threats to peace and stability in East Asia, from Kim Jong Un's missile program to China's threats to Taiwan. And we need to do three things in response. First, we need to work closely with our allies and partners in the region to understand what they need to enhance deterrence and improve their ability to defend themselves. In South Korea, this means deepening our 70-year alliance and focusing on new challenges. In particular, we should look closely at expanding our efforts at missile defense--missile defense--for South Korea and also for Japan. In Taiwan, this means accelerating delivery of critical systems that Taiwan has purchased through our Foreign Military Sales Program. Right now, they have almost $19.5 billion worth of military hardware that they have ordered and they are paying for that they are waiting to receive. Think how important that is. We are talking about F-16s. We are talking about missile-to-air defense. Think about how important those things are right now in terms of Taiwan's defense and deterrence--deterring the PRC's aggressive action in the Taiwan Strait. It also means thinking creatively with Taiwan's leaders about how we can jointly develop and produce near-term capabilities that will deter Chinese aggression as well and also providing training opportunities for Taiwan's defense forces. Second, we need to emphasize the importance of a regional strategy that links like-minded allies, partners, and friends to preserve peace and stability and support a free and open Indo-Pacific region. We have longstanding bilateral security alliances with South Korea as well as Japan, the Philippines, and other countries in the region. Right now, we are conducting military exercises with the Philippines. So we have these longstanding relationships and a longstanding defense relationship with Taiwan as well. We need to build these alliances. These alliances support U.S. interests in the region and ensure that we are not forced to operate from North America when we seek to secure and stabilize the western Pacific because we have these allies working with us in the region. We should make every effort to turn our system of bilateral alliances into a broader network of freedom-loving people across the Indo-Pacific region. We applaud the efforts of the Yoon government in South Korea to reach out to Japan. President Yoon was just recently in Japan to further strengthen ties between South Korea and Japan. We look forward to opportunities for trilateral relationships between South Korea, Japan, and the United States. And we should look for other ways to work with countries in the region to deter conflict and secure the seas for trade, including interoperable military hardware, information sharing, and coordinated strategies to deter aggression and to secure stability. Third, we need to continue efforts to modernize our forces, not because we seek a war in the Pacific but because the best path to peace is through strength. That is how we deter aggressive actors like the PRC. When we are strong, our partners and our allies will find it easier to strengthen themselves and work with us to keep the region secure. This means we need to build advanced capabilities that allow our forces to operate at long distances and in close coordination with our allies and our partners. It also means continuing efforts to modernize our nuclear forces, whichare foundational to our national security and which allow our allies and partners to focus on developing conventional capabilities rather than being tempted to build nuclear arsenals of their own. Our goal is deterrence, and improving the capabilities of our allies and partners, developing a regional approach to security and modernizing our own forces, that provides the best chance to avert future conflict. In addition to security, I also want to address economic relationships in the region as well. My trip reinforced my belief that coordination with our regional allies and partners should not be limited to military cooperation. We need to maintain strong economic relationships with our East Asian friends, both because it benefits the people of the United States and because strong economic relationships in the region also enhance deterrence and support peace. So it is not just a military strategy, it is an economic strategy as well.  In particular, we ought to prioritize trade and economic resiliency. First, we should take steps to advance free-trade agreements in the region. We all know that China has a large economy and needs markets for its products, so our ability to cultivate trading relationships in East Asia not only provides an opportunity for U.S. producers and manufacturers to make money overseas by exporting their products, it also ensures that China does not dominate those local economies--and China needs those markets. So it also puts pressure on China to stop the aggressive behavior. Fortunately, we have a bilateral free-trade agreement with South Korea right now, and it is working very well. When I first visited South Korea in 2011, we were working to complete the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement which went into force in 2012. I am pleased to say that after more than a decade, the benefits of this agreement are very clear. South Korea is our sixth largest trade partner, and of particular importance to my State, South Korea is the largest export market for U.S. beef, the second largest export for U.S. soybeans, and the fourth largest U.S. export for U.S. wheat. Taiwan was the eighth largest overall trade partner in the United States in 2022, and our seventh largest ag export market. This is a trade relationship that I worked on for almost 20 years. When I was Governor of North Dakota, I sent a trade delegation to Taiwan to open markets for North Dakota products. Today, Taiwan imports significant quantities of U.S. wheat, soybeans, and corn, much of which, again, comes from my home State of North Dakota and obviously greatly benefits ag States across America. The United States does not have a free-trade agreement with Taiwan, but I believe this is something we should work on, both because it would enhance an already robust trading relationship with a fellow market-based economy, and it would provide additional support to Taiwan during a time of great tension with China. Next, we should take steps to increase the economic resilience of our East Asian partners, particularly with respect to energy and food supplies. On energy, both South Korea and Taiwan would benefit from better access to U.S. liquefied natural gas. Stable sources of LNG would help both of their economies enormously in terms of self-sufficiency. Taiwan is attempting to get 50 percent of its energy from LNG, and it will need better LNG supplies as well as an enhanced capacity to store that LNG. We should also see how we can partner with South Korea to deliver the benefits of U.S. LNG in the region as well. On food security, it is important to note that neither South Korea nor Taiwan are likely to produce adequate supplies of food for their people because they are a limited land mass, obviously, and will remain dependent on overseas supplies for ag products. Our ag products do well in both markets, which is obviously good for our producers and brings economic stability to the people of South Korea and Taiwan. For them, secure sources of food truly contribute to their overall security and are very much a focus on what they are working on right now. The bottom line is that we face significant challenges in East Asia, but we should not face them alone. We need to work with our allies and build this strategy of regional cooperation and regional coordination to create deterrence, not only in terms of defense but also in terms of our shared market-based economies. We actually are celebrating the 70th anniversary of our alliance with South Korea right now, and in South Korea they refer to it as ``friends, allies, and partners for 70 years.'' And I think in a recent poll, the United States in South Korea has an approval rating of about 80 percent. Think about that. That is pretty fantastic. With the security that we have worked to provide on their economy, it has grown to be one of the largest, really, in the world. We have maintained strong defensive ties, and we have maintained strong economic ties with Taiwan for a decade. And as I say, this is a tremendous relationship, and it shows, and we are celebrating the 70th anniversary. And that should be instructive to us. That should be instructive to us as to what we can do with other partners in the region. Standing together with other free market democracies to defend our people and our values is key to peace and prosperity in the years and decades ahead for ourselves, for our allies in the Pacific. Standing together, we are strong. Peace and stability through strength. I yield the floor.