Drawing upon his observations of Taiwan and experience as a statesman, former US president Bill Clinton talked about the importance of integration and institutional capacity in bridging the gaps between communities in our increasingly interdependent world in a speech at the Taipei International Convention Center last night.
During his keynote speech for the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), Clinton used the situation between Taiwan and China as an example of the positive and negative interdependence that characterizes the 21st century.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"Although I am not president [of the US] anymore, I have watched the situation in Asia, and between China and Taiwan very closely. I see continuing negative tensions over political differences and positive economic and personal contacts," Clinton said.
The fact that over 100 million Chinese work for companies owned by Taiwanese businessmen and the recent success of the Lunar New Year cross-strait charter flights, are examples of such a contrasts, Clinton said. He cited al-Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US, made possible by the ready access to information and technology created by positive international interdependence as another such example.
Such situations tell us that we cannot escape each other, Clinton said, and added that the challenge of the 21st century is to move from a world of unstable interdependence to one of integrated communities with a greater number of partners and fewer enemies.
Clinton's speech was delayed for about an hour because his flight could not land due to bad weather. Accompanied by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), he walked into the packed auditorium of the TICC at 7pm. The audience stood and chanted greetings in Chinese to the former US president.
Among the dignitaries in the audience were Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (
Clinton, who visited Taiwan four times when he was governor of Arkansas, said he was glad to be back and recalled these earlier trips at the beginning of his speech.
"When I was a young governor, I came to Taiwan four times between 1979 and 1988. I noticed all the changes on this island," he said. "I watched the remarkable economic growth and your political growth. I have watched the development of your democracy with great appreciation and admiration."
Sharing his experience of promoting democracy all over the world, Clinton said the TFD, which was formed to support democracy not only in Taiwan but also around the world, could do important work beyond its borders.
Clinton, who noted the significance of strengthening institutional capacity in furthering economic development, democracy and humanitarian works in many countries, said he hoped the TFD could help freedom and democracy-loving people in other countries.
To promote democracy, he said, the world needs to find concrete ways to cooperate.
"For the first time in all human history, we have the ability to build a global system of integrated communities," he said.
After the speech, Mark Chen and Wang, representing the TFD, gave Clinton a gift: a jar made by Aboriginal people. Only the head of a tribe can own this kind of jar, which was decorated with a string of beads on around its mouth.
After his speech, Clinton attended a dinner banquet hosted by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). The former US president was provided with the same level of security as is used for visiting heads of state, with his motorcade protected by the police and trailed by both his own and Taiwanese security guards.
Also See Story:
Clinton says he supports `one China'
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS