John 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…”

“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.…”