Dear President Liang and members of the Legislative Yuan:
I feel truly honored to be here, at the Legislative Yuan of your great nation, to give a speech before you.
Thank you, President Liang, for your invitation and kind words. First of all, I would like to say that coming to your Legislative Yuan feels like coming back home.
As President Liang mentioned, I have served in the U.S. Congress for 25 years! I was the House minority leader for 9 of those years. My time in Congress was challenging but also a great experience; in fact, I would like to share a secret with you: I always aspired to be the speaker of the House of Representatives, but my wish never came true.
Serving as vice president and president of the United States is also a great and challenging experience, but I cherish my 25 years serving in the legislative branch of the government more.
Allow me to restate what a great honor it is to return to the Republic of China. Please allow me to reminisce for a few moments. In October of 1944, I was just a young naval officer, and while on a U.S. aircraft carrier cruising through Taiwanese waters, we witnessed a strike by the Japanese air force. They severely damaged two of our naval cruisers, and we had to tow these two ships away.
At the time, I had absolutely no idea that I would visit the Republic of China again. I never imagined that I would have the honor to speak at the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China.
In 1953, as President Liang just mentioned, I returned to the Republic of China as a member of Congress. At that time, I had the greatest honor of meeting the late President Chiang and Madame Chiang.
During my tenure as a member of the House of Representatives, I served as a member of the House Committee on Appropriations for 14 years. This committee is responsible for all foreign aid projects: including the Marshall Plan, as well as aid to many friendly nations in the Pacific Basin, and even to the Republic of China.
From 1950 to 1965, the U.S. government provided economic and military assistance to the Republic of China. I know that the U.S. government has always considered this to be a very good investment. I am also very happy to know that your government has fully utilized this aid to improve the lives of its citizens.
I would also like to point out how prosperous your country is now, and how you are playing an active role in world affairs. I hope that the Republic of China can participate more in international affairs and provide assistance to countries in need, just as your great nation needed help from other countries in 1950. This is a very noble and honorable role.
I clearly remember when my voters asked me: “Why should I support the Marshall Plan and other financial assistance programs?” There were also some difficulties in the state of Michigan that needed our economic support. My answer at the time, which might also serve as reference for your voters, was: “A strong and rich country has the responsibility of helping poorer countries, and this assistance will definitely bring benefits in the future”, just like the U.S. aid to the Republic of China has. Now, I call on the government of the Republic of China to offer their help to other countries that need it.
As I mentioned just now, when President Liang introduced me, coming into the Legislative Yuan felt just like coming back home because in the U.S. Congress, I often have the opportunity to speak. The U.S. government has a history of more than two hundred years. Our government, according to the Constitution, is divided into three branches: the executive branch, under the president’s leadership, the legislative branch, represented by Congress, and the judicial branch, represented by the Supreme Court. We in the United States solve all international and domestic issues based on a system of mutual checks and balances among these three branches of power.
When our founding fathers wrote the Constitution, they didn’t design the most effective and economical government. However, thanks to the check and balance among our governmental institutions, we have mechanisms that can protect our freedom—personal freedom, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, etc. In order to protect these freedoms, the three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial, must actively participate in all matters. Therefore, I would like to encourage your Legislative Yuan to participate more actively to protect freedom.
Just like what Sir Winston Churchill once said: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried.”
Taiwan is a growing and powerful democracy, and all of you, members of the Legislative Yuan, have the responsibility to strengthen your democracy. I have also noticed that in the past few years there have been some disputes on your congress floor. I can assure you that I have also witnessed first-hand several disputes in our House of Representatives; different opinions can sometimes start fights between congressmen. I believe that as long as they participate in all every-day legislative affairs, even such fights can be considered healthy. I remember the advice former Speaker Sam Rayburn from Texas used to give to new congressmen. He usually invited them to Congress and taught them how to manage when facing daily affairs. He used to tell them: “You should learn how to avoid serious disputes when you disagree with others.” I believe Speaker Rayburn’s remarks are not only suitable for American politicians, but for congressmen from all around the world. These are wise words. To the press, this would not be considered new advice, but I believe it is a good way to solve daily affairs that occur in the Legislative Yuan.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I served in the U.S. Congress for a total of 25 years. I was a member of the majority party for only two of those years, with the remaining 23 years spent in the minority party. I certainly appreciate life as a majority party member, but I also believe that minority party members have the responsibility to keep the majority party in check, so that democracy can proceed smoothly every day.
Finally, I would like to reiterate and call on all majority party members to respect minority party members. For minority party members, I want to emphasize that I hope you can participate more in the legislative process, so that when you become the majority party, you can tell others, that you will make the democratic process more complete.
Before I leave, I would like to quote Speaker Rayburn’s words again, and hope that you can learn how to tolerate each other even when you have different opinions.
Thank you all.
