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[Page: E32]

• Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert for the Record this excellent editorial on China and Taiwan from one of my hometown newspapers, the Post Star of Glens Falls, NY.

• The editorial alludes to the obvious differences between Communist China and democratic Taiwan in terms of human rights, democratic development, and economic performance. The only area left out is foreign policy orientation. Taiwan is unabashedly pro-Western and pro-United States. Communist China is unabashedly the opposite. It is a rogue regime, an enemy of freedom and yes, an enemy of the United States.

• This excellent article points out how pathetic it is that we are currently agonizing over whether or not to give a routine transit visa to the Vice President of our good friend, Taiwan .

Anyone pondering the future of China, and we sincerely hope this includes the Clinton administration, should consider the striking contrast between two recent events in Beijing and Taiwan .

One event stood as a proud affirmation of a democratic future. The other an ugly reminder of continued political oppression. It shouldn't be difficult to guess which happened where.

On Taiwan , 9 million voters cast ballots in parliamentary elections that qualified as the freest in China's history. The ruling Kuomintang saw its parliamentary margin pared to just over half of the 164-seat Yuan. The pro-independence Democratic Progressives won 54 seats. The New Party, a dissident Koumintang faction favoring reconciliation and reunification with mainland China, garnered enough votes to give it 21 legislative seats.

For now, expect Taiwan to maintain its policy opposing both reunification with the Communist-ruled mainland and independence. But the larger point here is that Taiwan 's prosperous citizens elected a parliament of their own choosing, selected from multiple political parties free to compete for popular support. The final step in Taiwan 's full democratization is the presidential election scheduled for March.

Now compare this heartening record of political progress with what happened a few days later in Beijing.

In a one-day show trial closed to the public and the foreign press, China's leading advocate of democracy was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Officially, Wei Jingsheng was charged with attempting to overthrow the government. In fact, of course, his real offense was believing, and saying publicly, that China's people should be as free as Taiwan 's citizens to chart their own political future. Wei also believes, and has said publicly, that China's forcible annexation and military occupation of Tibet are wrong.

China's one-party dictatorship justifies its continued suppression of all political freedoms by contending that authoritarian rule is necessary for economic development. Really? Per capita income on democratic Taiwan is 10 times that of mainland China. Japan, the richest country in Asia and the second-ranking economy in the world, has been a fully functioning democracy for nearly half a century.

China won't ever catch up to Taiwan , much less Japan, economically until the mainland autocrats permit the rule of law. That, in turn, must entail political liberalization of the sort that is transforming the rest of Asia.

The Clinton administration shouldn't shrink from saying exactly this, and from reminding Beijing that China will be trusted in exact proportion to the way it treats its own people.

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