President Lee Teng-hui this morning meets with three visiting U.S. congressmen--Senator Frank H. Murkowski (R-AK), Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX), and Rep. Thomas Manton (D-NY)--at the Office of the President and expresses his warm welcome to them.
President Lee thanks the three congressmen for their longtime support for the Republic of China and asks them to continue lending their support for enhanced friendship between both countries.
The ROC's commitment to political democracy and popular sovereignty is in tandem with the traditional American values of freedom, democracy, and justice, he points out, adding that the pursuit of freedom and democracy is a global trend and that communism is against this trend.
The President also tells his guests that Taiwan, with its system of freedom, democracy and equitable distribution of wealth, has become a beacon for the people on the Chinese mainland and that the ROC will do her utmost to bring this very system to all of China.
President Lee reiterates that, while the unification of China is an ultimate goal, the ROC can never accept Beijing's allegation that "the ROC on Taiwan is a province of the People's Republic of China." "The ROC has been a sovereign state since 1912," he notes.
The President believes that it is unwise for the Chinese Communist regime to isolate the ROC from the international community.
The American guests are accompanied by ROC Vice Foreign Minister Chen Chien-jen and American Institute in Taiwan's Deputy Director Christopher LaFleur for the meeting. Dr. Ding Mou-shih, Secretary-General of the ROC National Security Council, and Mr. Stephen S.F. Chen, Deputy Secretary-General of the Office of the President, are also present.