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Congressional Testimony
February 22, 2000
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1427 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY February 22, 2000 CRAIG THOMAS CHAIRMAN SENATE
FOREIGN RELATIONS EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS EAST ASIAN HOTSPOTS
BODY:
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CRAIG THOMAS,
CHAIRMAN SUBCOMMITTEE ON EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS FEBRUARY 22, 2000 Good
morning. Today the Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs meets to
examine U.S. foreign policy priorities and challenges likely to emerge in East
Asia in the coming year. Although we had a joint hearing with our House
counterparts two weeks ago, this is the Subcommittee's first hearing of the
Second Session of the 106th Congress and is, I believe, a fitting topic for us
to begin with. I will keep my opening brief, so that we can get to our witness
this morning; we have a lot of ground to cover. For those of you familiar with
the lunar calendar, the year 2000 is a dragon year. In fact, it is a double
dragon year (Chinese: ) - a rare intersection of the Chinese zodiac with the
duodecimal cycle that happens only once every sixty years. When I became
Chairman of this Subcommittee almost 6 years ago, pundits were noting the
significance of what many people were predicting would be not just the 21st
Century, but also the "Asian Century," beginning under the sign of the dragon --
the symbol of Asia. The regional surge in East Asia was both economic and
political. Asia's economies, the Asian Tigers -- China, Japan, South Korea,
Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong -- were growing by leaps and bounds. Magazine
covers routinely predicted the demise of America's economic preeminence. Japan
was going to replace us shortly, and was buying up Hawaii and California.
China's economy was pushing a 12% per year growth rate, its population topped
2.3 billion, and it began expanding its military. Hong Kong and Singapore vied
with each other to be the financial nerve centers of the region. Countries began
asserting their own geopolitical interests -- a phenomenon best illustrated by
the growing importance of ASEAN in settling regional disputes. And even in
communist nations like Vietnam and China, economic growth began to spur the
first stirring of democratic reform. But today, as we begin that "Asian
Century," the picture is much different. The economic crisis of 1997 burst the
Asian bubble. Economies began to collapse, and political stability was
threatened. Rather than being surpassed, we found ourselves saving our former
competitors. Economies were gutted; Indonesia's and Japan's still continue to
hobble along. ASEAN has lost its forward momentum. In China, growth has slowed
and the leadership, fearful that its initial flirtations with reform would
weaken the party's control over the country, has cracked down hard on any
perceived threats to its monolithic stability -- most notably on the Falun Gong
movement. Given these developments, it would seem that the "Asian Century" is
off to a bad start. That is not to minimize the importance Asia will play in
this century. I still firmly believe that, as a region, its importance both
politically and economically will continue to grow; it may just be that it
doesn't happen as fast, or as inexorably, as some originally thought. As
Chairman, I feel that this year, as in the next decades, we will to face a
majority of our foreign relations and economics challenges in this particular
region of the world. Chief among these clearly will be China, and by extension
Taiwan. This year we have China's accession to the WTO and China
PNTR, both of which I support, and the dubious Taiwan Security
Enhancement Act, which I oppose, on our plate. We also have a Chinese government
that is increasingly cracking down on elements such as ethnic minorities,
pro-democracy advocates, and religious groups. But China is not the only area of
concern. There is a nascent democratic government in Jakarta which is still
somewhat unstable due both to the country's economic woes and an increasingly
restive military. Nearby, we have a newly-independent East Timor which is still
incapable of fending for itself The North Korean nuclear question, even in the
aftermath of the Perry report, still remains unsettled. And there are issues in
the Philippines, Cambodia, Japan, and even Mongolia will continue to require our
attention. I don't want to go into too much detail; that's what Secretary Roth
is here for today and I am anxious to hear from him. Suffice it to say that it
will be a busy year for both Congress and the Administration.
LOAD-DATE: February 24, 2000 
