Questions to President Clinton

Dateline: 07/01/98

President Clinton's trip to China has been a success. I think his trip will be regarded as an important historic event in the relation between China and the United States. One of the significant achievements of the President's trip is that the President knows China better now. It is indeed a trip for understanding better between the two countries.

President Clinton spoke and answered students' questions at Beijing University on June 29. Some of the questions are "rather probing, difficult" as the President remarked later. The questions and answers are here for your information. And my comments are also added.

QUESTION: Mr. President, I'm very honored to be the first one to raise question. Just as you mentioned in your address, Chinese and American people should join hands and move forward together. And what is most important in this process is for us to have more exchanges.

In our view, since China is opening up in reform, we have had better understanding of the culture, history, and literature of America, and we have also learned a lot about you from the biography. And we have also learned about a lot of American Presidents. And we have also seen the movie, Titanic. But it seems that the American people's understanding of the Chinese people is not as much as the other way around. Maybe they are only seeing China through several movies, describing the Cultural Revolution or the rural life.

So my question is, as the first President of the United States visiting China in 10 years, what do you plan to do to enhance the real understanding and the respect between our two peoples? Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I think that's a very good point. And one of the reasons that I came here was to try to -- because, as you can see, a few people come with me from the news media -- I hope that my trip would help to show a full and balanced picture of modern China to the United States, and that by coming here, it would encourage others to come here and others to participate in the life of China.

I see a young man out in the audience who introduced himself to me yesterday as the first American ever to be a law student in China. So I hope we will have many more Americans coming here to study, many more Americans coming here to be tourists, many more Americans coming here to do business. The First Lady this morning and the Secretary of State had a meeting on a legal project. We are doing a lot of projects together with the Chinese to help promote the rule of law. That should bring a lot more people here.

I think there is no easy answer to your question. It's something we have to work at. We just need more people involved and more kinds of contacts. And I think the more we can do that, the better.

Is there a another question?

COMMENT: This is a very good question. Chinese indeed have better understanding of the culture, history, and literature of America since they are eager to know the outside world and so many students study in the US. On the other hand, Americans know China mainly through the media and they have largely negative image about China, which is really not fair to American people.

QUESTION: Mr. President, as a Chinese, I'm very interested in the reunification of my motherland. Since 1972, progress has been made on the question of Taiwan question, but we have seen that the Americans repeatedly are selling advanced weapons to Taiwan. And to our great indignation, we have seen that the United States and Japan have renewed the U.S.-Japan security treaty. And according to some Japanese officials, this treaty even includes Taiwan Province of China. So I have to ask, if China were to send its naval facility to Hawaii, and if China were to sign a security treaty with other countries against one part of the United States, will the United States agree to such an act; will the American people agree to such an act? (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, the United States policy is not an obstacle to the peaceful reunification of China and Taiwan. Our policy is embodied in the three communiques and in the Taiwan Relations Act. Our country recognized China and embraced a one China policy almost 20 years ago. And I reaffirmed our one China policy to President Jiang in our meetings.

Now, when the United States and China reached agreement that we would have a one China policy, we also reached agreement that the reunification would occur by peaceful means, and we have encouraged the cross-strait dialogue to achieve that. Our policy is that any weapon sales, therefore, to Taiwan must be for defensive purposes only, and that the country must not believe -- China must not believe that we are in any way trying to undermine our own one China policy. It is our policy. But we do believe it should occur -- any reunification should occur peacefully.

Now, on Japan, if you read the security agreement we signed with Japan, I think it will be clear from its terms that the agreement is not directed against any country, but rather in support of stability in Asia. We have forces in South Korea that are designed to deter a resumption of the Korean War across the dividing line between the two Koreas. Our forces in Japan are largely designed to help us promote stability anywhere in the Asian Pacific region on short notice. But I believe that it is not fair to say that either Japan or the United States have a security relationship that is designed to contain China. Indeed, what both countries want is a security partnership with China for the 21st century.

For example, you mentioned NATO -- we have expanded NATO in Europe, but we also have made a treaty, an agreement between NATO and Russia, to prove that we are not against Russia anymore. And the most important thing NATO has done in the last five years is to work side by side with Russia to end the war in Bosnia. And I predict to you that what you see us doing with China now, working together to try to limit the tension from the Indian and the Pakistani nuclear tests, you will see more and more and more of that in the future. And I think you will see a lot of security cooperation in that area. And we can't see the agreements of today through the mirror of yesterday's conflicts.

COMMENT: This is a fair question to ask. Chinese don't want to see the US sells weapons to Taiwan, which can only make things worse between Taiwan and China. But I can't blame the US for doing that since it is only business and a political game. I don't know if the President thought of human rights when he decided to sell weapons to Taiwan since those weapons could get more people killed.

QUESTION: Mr. President, I've very glad to have this opportunity to ask you a question. With a friendly smile you have set foot on the soil of China and you have come to the campus of Beida, so we are very excited and honored by your presence, for the Chinese people really aspire for the friendship between China and the United States on the basis of equality. As I know that before your departure from the States, you said that the reason for you to visit China is because China is too important and engagement is better than containment.

I'd like to ask you whether this sentence is kind of a commitment you made for your visit or do you have any other hidden sayings behind this smile. Do you have any other design to contain China? (Laughter and applause).

THE PRESIDENT: If I did, I wouldn't mask it behind a smile. (Laughter.) But I don't. That is, my words mean exactly what they say. We have to make a decision -- all of us do, but especially the people who live in large nations with great influence must decide how to define their greatness.

When the Soviet Union went away, Russia had to decide how to define its greatness. Would they attempt to develop the human capacity of the Russian people and work in partnership with their neighbors for a greater future, or would they remember the bad things the happened to them in the past 200 years and think the only way they could be great would be to dominate their neighbors militarily? They chose a forward course. The world is a better place.

The same thing is true with China. You will decide both in terms of your policies within your country and beyond, what does it mean that China will be a great power in the 21st century? Does it mean that you will have enormous economic success? Does it mean you will have enormous cultural influence? Does it mean that you will be able to play a large role in solving the problems of the world? Or does it mean you will be able to dominate your neighbors in some form or fashion, whether they like it or not? This is the decision that every great country has to make.

You ask me, do I really want to contain China? The answer is no. The American people have always had a very warm feeling toward China that has been interrupted from time to time when we have had problems. But if you go back through the history of our country, there's always been a feeling on the part of our people that we ought to be close to the Chinese people. And I believe that it would be far better for the people of the United States to have a partnership on equal, respectful terms with China in the 21st century than to have to spend enormous amounts of time and money trying to contain China because we disagree with what's going on beyond our borders. So I do not want that. I want a partnership. I'm not hiding another design behind a smile, it's what I really believe. (Applause.)

Because I think it's good for the American people and it's my job to do what's good for them. What's good for them is to have a good relationship with you.

QUESTION: Mr. President, I'm going to graduate this year and I'm going to work in Bank of China. Just now, Mr. President, you mentioned the responsibilities of the young generation of the two countries for international security, environment, and the financial stability. I think they are really important. And I think the most important thing is for the young people to be well educated. And I know, Mr. President, you love your daughter very much, and she is now studying at Stanford. So, my question is, several years ago you proposed the concept of knowledge economy -- so, my first question is, what do you think the education of higher learning, what kind of role can this play in the future knowledge economy?

And the second question is, what expectations do you have, Mr. President, for the younger generation of our two countries?

THE PRESIDENT: Let me answer the knowledge economy question first. And let me answer by telling you what I have tried to do in the United States. I have tried to create a situation in America in which the doors of universities and colleges are open to every young person who has sufficient academic achievement to get in, that there are no financial burdens of any kind. And we have not completely achieved it, but we have made a great deal of progress.

Now, why would I do that? Because I believe that the more advanced an economy becomes, the more important it is to have a higher and higher and higher percentage of people with a university education. Let me just tell you how important it is in the United States. We count our people -- every 10 years we do a census and we count the numbers of the American people and we get all kinds of information on them. In the 1990 Census, younger Americans who had a college degree were overwhelmingly likely to get good jobs and have their incomes grow. Younger Americans who had two years or more of university were likely to get good jobs and have their incomes grow. Younger Americans who didn't go to university at all were likely to get jobs where their incomes declined and were much more likely to be unemployed.

And the more advanced China's economy becomes, the more that will be true of China -- the more you will need very large numbers of people getting university education and technical education. So I think it is very, very important.

Now, let me say one expectation I have for the younger generation of Americans and Chinese that has nothing to do with economics. One of the biggest threats to your future is a world which is dominated not by modern problems, but by ancient hatreds. Look around the world and see how much trouble is being caused by people who dislike each other because of their racial or their religious or their ethnic differences -- whether it's in Bosnia, or the conflict between the Indians and the Pakistanis, or in the Middle East or the tribal continents in Africa.

You look all over the world, you see these kind of problems. Young people are more open to others who are different, more interested in people who are different. And I hope young people in China and young people in America that have a good education will be a strong voice in the world against giving in to this sort of hating people or looking down on them simply because they're different.

Thank you. (Applause.)

QUESTION: Mr. President, with regard to the question of democracy, human rights and freedom, actually this is an issue of great interest to both the Chinese and American peoples. But, to be honest, our two countries have some differences over these issues. In your address just now you made a very proud review and retrospection of the history of the American democracy in human rights. And you have also made some suggestions for China. Of course, for the sincere suggestions, we welcome. But I think I recall one saying, that is we should have both criticism and self-criticism.

So now I'd like to ask you a question. Do you think that in the United States today, there are also some problems in the area of democracy, freedom, and human rights, and what your government has done in improving the situation? (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: I do, and, first of all, let me say, I never raise this question overseas in any country, not just China, without acknowledging first, that our country has had terrible problems in this area -- keep in mind, slavery was legal in America for many years -- and that we are still not perfect. I always say that, because I don't think it's right for any person to claim that he or she lives in a perfect country. We're all struggling toward ideals to live a better life. So I agree with the general point you made.

Now, I will give you two examples. We still have some instances of discrimination in America -- in housing or employment or other areas based on race. And we have a system set up to deal with it, but we have not totally eliminated it. And in the last year, I have been engaging the American people in a conversation on this subject, and we have tried to identify the things that government should do, the things that the American people should do either through the local government or through other organizations, and the attitudes that should change the minds and hearts of the American people. So that's one example.

Now, let me give you another example. We have -- when I ran for President in 1992, I was in a hotel in New York City, and an American immigrant from Greece came up to me and he said, my son is 10 years old and he studies the election in school and he says I should vote for you. But he said, if I vote for you, I want you to make my son free, because my son is not really free. So I asked this man, what do you mean? And he said, well, the crime is so high in my neighborhood, there are so many guns and gangs that my son does not feel that he -- I can't let him walk to school by himself, or go across the street to play in the park. So if I vote for you, I want you to make my son free.

I think that's important, because, you see, in America, we tend to view freedom as the freedom from government abuse or from government control. That is our heritage. Our founders came here to escape the monarchy in England. But sometimes freedom requires affirmative steps by government to give everyone an equal opportunity to have an education and make a decent living and to preserve a lawful environment. So I work very hard to try to bring the crime rate down in America, and it's now lower than it has been at any time in 25 years, which means that more of our children are free. But the crime rate is still high; there is still too much violence.

So we Americans need to be sensitive not only to preserve the freedoms that we hold dear, but also to create an environment in which people can build a truly good and free life.

That's a good question. (Applause.)

COMMENT: Human rights again? China was governed by the Emperors for thousands years and they don't have a good legal system even until now, and they have a different political system. Also the culture and traditions are very different. Most Chinese have no idea about human rights. They simply don't know what is human rights. I guess they only heard the term in recent years and are still wondering what it means. If you know these, you may understand why it is so hard to promote human rights, freedom and democracy in China. I have seen there have been significantly progresses on those issues in China over the last 20 years. Yet there are still a lot of problems.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you are warmly welcome to Beida. You mentioned a sentence by Mr. Xu Jiyu, but our former president once said that when the great moral is in practice, the morals, they will not contradict each other. And I don't think the individual freedom and the collective freedom will contradict each other. But in China the prosperous development of the nation is actually the free choice of our people, and it's also the result of their efforts. So I think that freedom, real freedom, should mean for the people to freely choose the way of life they like and also to develop. And I also think that only those who can really respect the freedom of others can really say that they understand what freedom means. (Applause.)

I don't know whether you agree with me or not.

THE PRESIDENT: First of all, if you believe in freedom, you have to respect the freedom of others to make another choice. And even societies that have rather radical views of individual freedom recognize limits on that freedom when it interferes with preserving other people's rights.

For example, there's one of our famous court cases which says we have freedom of speech, but no one should be free to shout the word "fire" in a crowded movie theatre where there is no fire, and cause people to stampede over each other. There's another famous court decision that says my freedom ends where the other person's nose begins, meaning that you don't have the freedom to hit someone else.

So I agree with that. People have the freedom to choose and you have to respect other people's freedom and they have the right to make decisions that are different from yours. And there will never be a time when our systems and our cultures and our choices will be completely identical. That's one of the things that makes life interesting.

QUESTION: Mr. President, I have two questions. The first question is, the U.S. economy has been growing for more than 18 months, so I'd like to ask, apart from your personal contribution to the United States, what other factors do you think important for the success of the U.S. economy? Maybe they can serve as good reference for China.

The second question is, when President Jiang Zemin visited Harvard University last year, there were a lot of students outside the hall demonstrating, so I'd like you, Mr. President, if you are in Beijing University, and if there were a lot of students outside protesting and demonstrating, what feeling would you have?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, on the United States economy, I believe that the principal role of government policy since I've been President was to, first of all, get our big government deficit -- we had a huge annual deficit in spending -- we got that under control. We're about to have the first balanced budget in 30 years. That drove interest rates down and freed up a lot of money to be invested in creating jobs in the private sector. Then the second thing we did was to expand trade a lot, so we began to sell a lot more around the world than we had before. And the third thing we did was to attempt to invest more in our people -- in research, development, technology, and education.

Now, in addition to that, however, a lot of the credit here goes to the American people themselves. We have a very sophisticated business community; they were investing money in new technologies and in new markets and in training people. We have an environment where it's quite easy for people to start a business, and perhaps this is the area that might be most helpful to China.

I know that my wife has done a lot of work around the world in villages, trying to get credit to villagers so they could borrow money to start their own businesses, to try to take advantage of some skill they have. And we have seen this system work even in the poorest places in Africa and Latin America, where opportunity takes off.

So we have tried to make it easy in America for people to start a business, to expand a business, and to do business. And then we have also tried very, very hard to get new opportunities into areas where there were none before. And all these things together -- but especially, I give most of the credit to the people of my country. After all, a person in my position, we're supposed to have correct policies so that we create a framework within which the American people then create the future. And I think that is basically what has happened.

Now, you asked me an interesting question. Actually, I have been demonstrated against quite a lot in the United States. I told President Jiang when he was there, I was glad they demonstrated against him, so I didn't feel so lonely. (Laughter and applause.)

I'll give you a serious answer. If there were a lot of people demonstrating against me outside, suppose they were demonstrating over the question that the first gentleman asked me. Suppose they said, oh, President Clinton is trying to interfere with the peaceful reunification of China and Taiwan, and he shouldn't be selling them any weapons whatever. Well, I would try to find out what they were demonstrating against and then I would ask my host if they minded if I would go over and talk to them, or if they would mind if one or two people from the group of demonstrators could be brought to see me and they could say what is on their minds, and I could answer.

Remember what I said before about what Benjamin Franklin said -- our critics are our friends, for they show us our faults. You have asked me some very good questions today that have an element of criticism in them. They have been very helpful to me. They have helped me to understand how what I say is perceived by others -- not just in China, but around the world. They have helped me to focus on what I can do to be a more effective President for my people and for the things we believe in.

And so I feel very good that we have had this interchange. And from my point of view, the questions were far more important than my speech -- I never learn anything when I'm talking, I only learn things when I'm listening.

Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)