Date: 1997-04-10
Speaker: JOHN BOEHNER (republican)
Chamber: H

the gentleman from California. Mr. CHRIS Cox. the gentlewoman from Washington. Ms. JENNIFER DUNN. the gentleman from Florida. Mr. ALCEE HASTINGS. the gentleman from California. Mr. JAY KiM. the gentleman from California. Mr. ED ROYCE. the gentleman from Louisiana. Mr. WILLIAM "JEFF" JEFFERSON. the gentleman from Florida. Mr. MARK FOLEY. and this Member. Also accompanying us on part of the trip. that part relating to China. Japan. and Taiwan. was the junior Senator from the State of Florida. CONNIE MACK. Mr. Speaker. in this trip we visited the following cities. in this order: first to Seoul. Korea. then to Hong Kong. to Beijing. to Shanghai. to Tokyo. and to Taipei. Taiwan. As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on International Relations. some 2 years ago when I took control and chairmanship of the subcommittee. I set out three guiding objectives. The first of those objectives is to maintain our military and naval strength in the Pacific region. because it is in our national interest. and because our military and naval forces there are a source of security for the entire region. I think it makes it much less likely that we will have extraordinary arms races in East or Southeast Asia. as long as a military presence is there from the United States. Indeed. it is rather remarkable that every nation in the region. with the possible exception of North Korea. -wants the United States to be there in that significant role. Constantly we are asked whether or not the United. States is there and will retain its forces- there in the foreseeable future. The second guiding objective is to maintain and in fact enhance our economic presence in the region. our business presence. our export presence. our American business activity. including investments. Third. rather than check them at the door. the guiding principle will be to take American objectives and principles to Asia and continue to push for their introduction and sustenance. They would include.. of course. the rule of law. a democracy. free and fair elections. and human rights. as well as taking economic freedom to the region. Those are the objectives that were pursued by the Speakers CODEL to Asia. I am very pleased that so many of my colleagues. in a bipartisan effort. made this trip. I would like to begin very briefly. until I am joined by the Speaker and other Members. First of all. I would mention as an overview a few things about the countries that we visited. First. the Republic of Korea. which we know. of course. is South Korea. this is our fifth largest trading partner. Our exports to the Republic of Korea exceed $30 billion with a trade surplus of about $3.9 billion during 1996. Our meetings in Seoul. South Korea. oriented Members regarding the problems of instability and deep economic and food problems in North Korea and the nature of North Koreas military threat to South Korea. We had top level access to South Korean Government officials. including an hour with President Kim Yongsam. who took all of our questions and then honored our -visit with a subsequent luncheon in the Blue House. We visited the demilitarized zone. a very unusual place. I must say. on this planet and participated in military briefings by the commander of all United States forces in Korea. The Speaker also had an opportunity to visit the officers and troops of the U.S. Army 2d Division in their forward sector on the DMZ. We have about 37.000 American military personnel in Korea. most of them forward based along the DMZ. And that. of course. does not include military dependents and civilian members of the U.S. Government. I will also briefly mention our trip to Japan before we proceed to discussion of China. even though it is out of order. In Japan we also had access to top leadership. including a breakfast and question and answer period with Prime Minister Hashimoto. He assured us that in the next few days. at that time. he would lead an effort to proceed with the extension of leases for the reconfigured United States bases in Okinawa. even if it jeopardized his government. The trip reemphasized the fact for all of us that Japan is our most crucial military ally in East Asia. The fact that it has the second largest economy in the world by a wide margin and the fact that the state of our military and political relationship with Japan is excellent. However. we continue to have major trade difficulties with Japan. and several of us raised trade issues with.- the Ministry of International. Trade and Industry. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia .