David Thomas: “I wanted to comment just a moment on an effort we made last week and intend to make again tomorrow relating to the…”

“I wanted to comment just a moment on an effort we made last week and intend to make again tomorrow relating to the affairs in the Taiwan Strait. All of us know that there has been now for some time a series of threats, a series of missiles, a series of live-ammunition military maneuvers by the People's Republic designed, we believe and I believe, to intimidate the Taiwanese election that comes up this week. Certainly, our country and the world, indeed, has a great interest in what happens in this area, partly because of our efforts to improve our relationship with the People's Republic of China--a relationship that will be increasingly important as time goes by, increasingly important to the Pacific rim and to the Asian area, increasingly important in the area of trade; 1.2 billion people with an economy growing at 10 percent--partly because of our concern for Taiwan and the development there of a democracy, this election of the President, the first free election that has been held, one of the first areas of success of democracy in an Asian country; partly because of the agreements that we have made with Taiwan and China through the years, three communiques and the Taiwan Act that spells out where we are, spells out the fact that we have supported the one-China policy and continue to support the one-China policy, spells out the fact that basic to that agreement is the agreement that it be pursued in a peaceful way, and that it not be involved in the military ac…”