Matt Salmon: “I do not think this phrase was ever more appropriate than it is now: So much to say, so little time. This is probably…”

“I do not think this phrase was ever more appropriate than it is now: So much to say, so little time. This is probably the most gut-wrenching issue that I have faced since I have been in Congress just a short tenure of almost 2 years. When I served a mission in Taiwan from 1977 to 1979, I got to know and to love the Chinese people deeply. I got to know several people who had escaped from China and escaped the persecution there several decades ago. When the Chinese started launching missiles in the Taiwan Strait earlier this year, there was nobody in this Congress that was more angry than me, that wanted to stand by Taiwan's side more than me, because I have loved ones and friends there that I was deeply concerned about and fearful for their lives. Clearly, the impassioned messages against human suffering and misery are heartfelt and sincere, and the leaders in the opposition to MFN, the gentleman from California, Dana Rohrabacher, the gentlewoman from California, Nancy Pelosi, the gentleman from New York, Jerry Solomon, and on and on, they really care deeply about the issues they talk about. Nobody will question that. We all want the evil to stop. But let us not confuse our tactics with our objectives. It is for precisely the same reasons that they care about these issues that we have to preserve MFN. Let us think about it. If we cut off MFN, what is the next likely thing that will happen? Trade relations will deteriorate. We will have trade wars.…”