MR. MORRISON: Well, thank you. Aloha. I want to welcome everyone. And for our onlineaudience, and also for the Secretary, I’d like to describe who is here in our audience. We havethe mayor of Honolulu, Mayor Caldwell. We have our senator, Mazie Hirono. We have ourformer governor, George Ariyoshi, and our other former governor, John Waihee. We have manymembers of the business and intellectual and public affairs community here in Honolulu. Wehave members of the diplomatic corps. We have members of our men and women in uniform.We have the members of the board of governors of the East-West Center. We have the staff ofthe East-West Center. We have friends of the East-West Center. And most importantly, we havefuture leaders of the Asia Pacific region. And I was just telling the Secretary, I think yesterdaywe welcomed 130 new participants from the United States and 40 other countries. They’re hereon a unique program to prepare them for being future regional and global leaders.
Now, how do you introduce a man who is so well-known for his own leadership and --
SECRETARY KERRY: First thing, you can just tell everybody to sit down.
MR. MORRISON: Oh. (Laughter.) Please sit down, yes. (Laughter.) Thank you, Mr. Secretary.Anyway, as you know, he has served in war and peace. He was a senator for 28 years; 59million Americans voted for him for president, including 54 percent of the voters of Hawaii. (Laughter and applause.) But as a former senate staff person, I thought the way to reallycheck him out was to see how his confirmation hearing went. Now, the issues werecontroversial but the nominee was not controversial, and what his former colleagues saidabout him, Republicans and Democrats, I think give the essence of the man: extremely wellprepared, born in a Foreign Service family, served all 28 years on the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee, four years as the chairman of that committee. He knows the languages – severalforeign languages, countries, leaders, and issues. He is a man of incredible moral andintellectual integrity. He brings conviction and compassion to his job and great energy. Hehas been, I think, on his seventh trip to Asia, coming back and so we want to welcome him backto the United States. We want to welcome him to our most Asia Pacific state, and we want towelcome him to the East-West Center, an institution that’s building community with thisvast region which is so systemically important to the future of the United States.
Mr. Secretary of State. (Applause.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Well, good afternoon, everybody. Aloha. It’s wonderful to behere in Hawaii, and man, I can’t tell you how I wish I was as relaxed as some of you in yourbeautiful shirts. (Laughter.) Here I am in my – whatever you call it – uniform. Uniform, somewould say. But it is such a pleasure to be here. Mr. Mayor, it’s great to be here with you. AndMazie, thank you. It’s wonderful to see you, Senator. I’m very happy to see you. Thanks forbeing here. And governors, thank you for being here very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests all, it’s a great, great pleasure for me to be ableto be here. And President Morrison, thank you very much for that generous introduction. Iappreciate it very much.
Charles was way ahead of the curve, folks, in seeing the trend towards regionalism in the AsiaPacific in the early 1990s. And he was calling for community-building within East Asia wellbefore it became a standard topic of discussion on the think tank circuit. So clearly, and toeveryone’s benefit, he’s had an ability to focus on the long game. And that is a talent that heactually shares with one of the founding fathers of this institution, a former colleague,beloved to all of you, who became a great friend to me, and that’s Senator Dan Inouye. Duringmy sort of latter years, I actually moved up to about seventh in seniority or something in theUnited States Senate, and had I not been appointed to this job, with all of the retirements thatare taking place, I don’t know, I might have been third or fourth or something, which is kind ofintimidating. But as a result of that, I got to sit beside the great Dan Inouye for four or fiveyears in the Senate. Our desks were beside each other, and we became very good friends. Hewas one of the early supporters of mine when I decided to run for President in ’04, ’03. Butmost importantly, Dan Inouye, as all of you know, was a patriot above all who commandedremarkable respect and affection of all of his colleagues. And Hawaii was so wise to keep himin office for so many years.
Having just visited yesterday Guadalcanal, having stood up on what was called Bloody Ridge,Edson’s Ridge, and walked into one of the still remaining bunkers that Marines were dug in onagainst 3,000-plus Japanese who kept coming at them wave after wave in the evening, it’s – itwas a remarkable sense of the battle that turned the war. And no place knows the meaning ofall of that better than here in Hawaii.
Yesterday commemorated really one of the great battles of the Second World War, and so itgave me a chance to reflect with special pride and with humility about Dan’s service to ourcountry. He was a hero in the war, against difficult circumstances which we all understand toowell. But he became the first Japanese American to serve in the House of Representatives andthe United States Senate, against all the odds of what was still a prevailing sense in ourcountry of misunderstanding between people. And he just never let that get in the way. Heshared a very personal commitment to strengthening ties between the United States and theAsia Pacific. And that’s why he championed the East-West Center for decades, and I want you toknow that President Obama and I strongly support your mission of bringing people together tothink creatively about the future of our role in the region and how we overcome the kinds ofinherent, visceral differences that sometimes are allowed to get in the way of relationships, andfrankly, in the way of common sense.
We remember too well in America that slavery was written into our Constitution long before itwas written out of it. And we all know the struggle that it took – excuse me – to write it out. Soas we look at the world today – complicated, difficult, tumultuous, volatile – for so many ofus who have spent decades working on issues central to the Asia Pacific, there’s actuallysomething particularly exciting about this moment. It’s almost exhilarating when you look atAsia’s transformation. And like Dan Inouye, I have had the privilege, as many of you havehere I can see, you’ve lived a lot of that transformation firsthand.
A number of my – (coughing) – excuse me, it’s the virtue of many hours in an airplane. Anumber of my ancestors from Boston and from Massachusetts were merchants whose shipsdropped anchor in Hong Kong as they plied the lonely trade routes to China. My grandfather,actually, was born in Shanghai and was a businessman who had a partnership with a Chinesebusinessman. So in our family and in Massachusetts, we’ve had a long sense of the possibilitiesand of this relationship. Today, East Asia is one of the largest, fastest growing, most dynamicregions in the entire world. And when the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations are complete,about 40 percent of global GDP will be linked by a high-standard trade agreement, a tradeagreement that creates a race to the top, not a race to the bottom, where people understandthe rules of engagement and there’s accountability and transparency, and business andcapital know exactly what the rules of the road will be so they’re attracted to invest each in eachother’s countries.
After college, I had the privilege of serving in the United States Navy. And I went throughPearl Harbor. I had a remarkable several days here as a young officer on a frigate before weset sail to cross the Pacific. And I drove all over the island everywhere, in places I probablywasn’t supposed to. But I loved it and then spent a second tour in the rivers of Vietnam. Andback then, the word Vietnam – just saying Vietnam – carried with it an ominous meaning. Itmeant war. It meant huge dissent in America, families torn apart. But today, Vietnam, whenyou say it, has a whole different meaning to most people. It’s now a dynamic country filledwith economic opportunity. It’s a market for our businesses and our investors. It’s a classroomfor our children. It has one of the largest Fulbright programs in the world. And it’s a partner intackling regional economic and security challenges.
Such extraordinary transformations have actually become almost the norm in this region. I’llnever forget, 15 years ago, I visited in then Burma – no confusion with Myanmar but nowpeople choose what they want to call it. But I visited with Daw Aung Sung Sui Kyi in the veryhome in which she was imprisoned for nearly two decades. And this week, I had the privilegeof again going back to the very same house – it hadn’t changed, looked the same. She, by theway, 20 years later looks the same. And she is now free to speak her mind as a member ofparliament.
It’s remarkable. It doesn’t mean all the president are solved. But these transformations arejust some of what makes Asia the most exciting and promising places on the planet.
I am returning, as President Morrison has said, from actually my sixth trip to the Asia Pacific in18 months as Secretary of State. And later today, I’ll be meeting with our outstandingCommander of United States Forces in the Pacific to review a range of America’s formidablemilitary presence issues. I have We know that America’s security and prosperity are closely and increasingly linked to the AsiaPacific. And that’s why President Obama began what is known as the rebalance to Asia in 2019.That’s why he’s asked me to redouble my own efforts in the region over the next two and halfyears. And that’s why I want to talk to you today about four specific opportunities: creatingsustainable economic growth, powering a clean energy revolution, promoting regionalcooperation, and empowering people.
Now, these important opportunities can and should be realized through a rules-based regionalorder, a stable regional order on common rules and norms of behavior that are reinforced byinstitutions. And that’s what holds the greatest potential for all of us for making progress. Wesupport this approach, frankly, because it encourages cooperative behavior. It fostersregional integration. It ensures that all countries, big and small – and the small part is reallyimportant – that they have a say in how we work together on shared challenges. I want you toknow that the United States is deeply committed to realizing this vision. President Obama isexcited about it. He wants us all to be committed to fostering it and also to understanding whywe’re doing it. And frankly, it is this vision that is the underlying reason that so manycountries in Asia choose to work with the United States.
You hear some people today talking about the United States retrenching or disengaging.Nothing could be further from the truth. I think we’re more engaged and more active in morecountries and more parts of the world than any time in American history. And I can tell you thatbecause just driving over here I was on the phone to people in the Middle East, talking about aceasefire which is now going to be in place in the next days; talking about the road ahead. Justcame back from Afghanistan, where we’re working on the transition to the people ofAfghanistan, to their future. We’re engaged with Iran, working on the nuclear program; withthe DPRK, with China, and Sudan, and Central Africa. We just had 50-plus African leaders toWashington to talk about the future of American engagement there. We are deeply engagedin a very, very complex world.
But this speech and this moment here at the university and at the center, and the trip that Ijust made to Asia, are meant to underscore that even as we focus on those crises that I’ve justlisted and on conflicts that dominate the headlines on a daily basis and demand our leadership– even as we do that, we will never forget the long-term strategic imperatives for Americaninterests. As Secretary of State, my job isn’t just to respond to crises. It’s also about definingand seizing the long-term opportunities for the United States. And having just traveled toBurma, Australia, and the Solomon Islands, I can tell you that nowhere are those strategicopportunities clearer or more compelling than in the Asia Pacific.
That’s why we are currently negotiating a comprehensive and ambitious Trans-PacificPartnership Agreement that will create thousands of new jobs here in America as well as inother countries, and it will spur this race to the top, not to the bottom. It raises the standardsby which we do business. That’s why we’re elevating our engagement in multilateralinstitutions, from the ASEAN Regional Forum to the East Asia Summit. And that’s why we arerevitalizing our security partnerships with our treaty allies: Japan, Australia, South Korea, andthe Philippines. And that’s why we are standing up for the human rights and the fundamentalfreedoms that people in Asia cherish as much as any people in the world.
I have no illusions about the challenges, and nor does President Obama. They are complex inthis 21st century, in many ways far more complex than the bipolar, East-West, Soviet Union-versus-West world – the Cold War that many of us grew up in. This is far more complicated.It’s far more, in many ways, like 19th century and 18th century diplomacy, with statesasserting their interests in different ways and with more economic players in the planet thanwe had in the 20th century with power and with a sense of independence. But what I want toemphasize to you all today is there is a way forward. This is not so daunting that it’sindescribable as to what we can do.
So how do we make our shared vision a reality for the region and ensure that Asia contributesto global peace and prosperity? First, we need to turn today’s economic nationalism andfragmentation into tomorrow’s sustainable growth. I say it all the time: Foreign Policy iseconomic policy, and economic policy is foreign policy. They are one and the same. There’s nodenying that particularly in Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific is an engine of global economic growth, butwe can’t take that growth for granted.
Because what we face something that is really a common challenge. Across the world, we haveseen a staggering growth in youth populations. At the Africa summit it was just underscored tous there are 700 million people under the age of 30. We’ve seen staggering growth in theseyouth populations. And guess what. In the 21st century, in 2019 when everybody’s runningaround with a mobile device and everybody’s in touch with everybody every day all the time,all of these people are demanding an opportunity. They’re demanding dignity. Andjuxtaposed to their hopes, a cadre of extremists, of resisters, of naysayers are waiting to seducemany of those young people into accepting a dead end. And let me tell you, when people don’thave a job, when they can’t get an education, when they can’t aspire to a better future forthemselves and for their families, when their voices are silenced by draconian laws or violenceand oppression, we have all witnessed the instability that follows.
Now happily, many, if not most governments, in Asia are working to present booming youthpopulations with an alternative, with a quality education, with skills for the modern world,with jobs that allow them to build a life and a confidence in their countries. That is part of thereason why the young people in Asia are joining the ranks of the middle class, not the ranks ofviolent extremists. And the fact is that too many countries around the world are struggling toprovide those opportunities. There’s a lack of governance, and we ignore the importance of thiscollective challenge to address the question of failed and failing states in other parts of theworld.
In the 21st century, a nation’s interests and the well-being of its people are advanced not justby troops or diplomats, but they’re advanced by entrepreneurs, by chief executives ofcompanies, by the businesses that are good corporate citizens, by the workers that theyemploy, by the students that they train, and the shared prosperity that they create. That iswhy we are working with partners across the Asia Pacific to maintain and raise standards as weexpand trade and investment by pursuing a comprehensive Trans-Pacific Partnershipagreement.
Now, the TPP represents really an exciting new chapter in the long history of America’s mutuallybeneficial trade partnerships with the countries of the Asia Pacific. It is a state-of-the-art, 21stcentury trade agreement, and it is consistent not just with our shared economic interests, butalso with our shared values. It’s about generating growth for our economies and jobs for ourpeople by unleashing a wave of trade, investment, and entrepreneurship. It’s about standing upfor our workers, or protecting the environment, and promoting innovation. And it’s aboutreaching for high standards to guide the growth of this dynamic regional economy. And all ofthat is just plain good for businesses, it’s good for workers, it’s good for our economies. Andthat’s why we must get this done.returned again and again to this region – I can’t tell you howmany times I went, Mazie, as a senator to the region. And we are now – we take our enduringinterests there, obviously, very, very seriously.
Now, every time I travel to Asia, I have the privilege of meeting with young entrepreneurs andbusiness leaders. In fact, at the Africa summit the other day we had this wonderful group ofyoung African leaders – all entrepreneurs, all these young kids in their 20s doingextraordinary things. It’s call the Young African Leaders Initiative, which President Obamastarted.
In Hanoi last December, I launched the Governance for Inclusive Growth Program to supportVietnam’s transition to a market-based economy. I’ve met with entrepreneurs in Seoul andManila to talk about how we can drive innovation. On Saturday, I discussed with my ASEANcounterparts the framework for creating business opportunities and jobs that we callExpanded Economic Engagement, or E3. And just yesterday, I met with business leaders inSydney, Australia to explore ways to reduce the barriers to trade and investment.
To broaden the base of support for this strategy, we need to focus not only on rapid growth,but we also need to focus on sustainability. And that means making the best use of regionalinstitutions. President Obama will join APEC economic leaders in Beijing this fall to focus onpromoting clean and renewable fuels and supporting small businesses and women’sparticipation in the economy and expanding educational exchanges. And just a few days ago,I met with ministers from the Lower Mekong Initiative countries to deepen our partnership andhelp them wrestle with the challenges of food and water and energy security on the MekongRiver.
Ultimately, the true measure of our success will not be just whether our economies continue togrow, but how they continue to grow. And that brings me to our second challenge: We need toturn today’s climate crisis into tomorrow’s clean energy revolution. Now, all of this – all of usin this room understand climate change is not a crisis of the future. Climate change is herenow. It’s happening, happening all over the world. It’s not a challenge that’s somehow remoteand that people can’t grab onto.
But here’s the key: It’s happening at a rate that should be alarming to all of us becauseeverything the scientists predicted – and I’ll tell you a little addendum. Al Gore – I had theprivilege of working with Al Gore and Tim Worth and a group of senators – Jack Heinz – backin the 1980s when we held the first hearing on climate change in 1988. That’s when JimHansen from NASA came forward and said it’s happening. It’s happening now in 1988. In 1992we had a forum down in Brazil, Rio, the Earth Summit. George Herbert Walker Bushparticipated. We came up with a voluntary framework to deal with climate change, butvoluntary didn’t work. And for 20 years nothing much happened. Then we went to Kyoto. Wewent to all these places to try to do something, and here we are in 2019 with a chance nextyear in 2019 to do it.
And what’s happening is the science is screaming at us. Ask any kid in school. Theyunderstand what a greenhouse is, how it works, why we call it the greenhouse effect. Theyget it. And here’s what – if you accept the science, if you accept that the science is causingclimate to change, you have to heed what those same scientists are telling us about how youprevent the inevitable consequences and impacts. You can’t – that’s why President Obamahas made climate change a top priority. He’s doing by executive authority what we’re notable to get the Congress to do. And we’re working very hard to implement the Climate ActionPlan and lead by example. We’re doubling the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks on America’sroads. We’ve developed new standards that ensure that existing power plants are as clean aspossible and as efficient as possible. And we’re committed to reducing greenhouse gasesand emissions in the range of about 17 percent below 2019 levels by 2020.
So we’re heading in the right direction. But make no mistake about it: Our response has tobe all hands on deck. By definition, rescuing the planet’s climate is a global challenge thatrequires a global solution. And nowhere is all of this more evident than in the Asia Pacific.And no two nations can have a greater impact or influence on this debate or this challengethan China and the United States.
During the Strategic and Economic Dialogue last month, Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew and Iwere in Beijing for two days. And we and China together sent a clear message: The world’s twolargest greenhouse gas emitters, the United States and China, are committed to advancing alow-carbon economic growth pattern and significantly reduce our countries’ greenhouse gases.And we’re working together to launch demonstration projects on carbon capture, utilization,and storage. We’re adopting stronger fuel efficiency standards for heavy- and light-dutyvehicles. We’re advancing a new initiative on climate change and forests, because we knowthat the threat of deforestation and its implications of a changing climate are real and they’regrave and they’re growing. And I’ll just say to you this is not an issue on which you can be halfpregnant. No such issue. If you accept the science, you have to accept that you have to dothese things about it.
Now, the United States and China have a special role to play in reducing emissions anddeveloping a clean energy future. But everybody – every nation – has a stake in getting itright. I just came from the Solomon Islands yesterday, a thousand islands, some of which couldbe wiped out if we don’t make the right choices. The Pacific Islands across the entire Pacific arevulnerable to climate change. And just yesterday, I saw with my own eyes what sea level risewould do to parts of it: It would be devastating – entire habitats destroyed, entire populationsdisplaced from their homes, in some cases entire cultures wiped out. They just had flashflooding in Guadalcanal – unprecedented amounts of rainfall. And that’s what’s happened withclimate change – unprecedented storms, unprecedented typhoons, unprecedentedhurricanes, unprecedented droughts, unprecedented fires, major damage, billions andbillions of dollars of damage being done that we’re paying for instead of investing those billionsof dollars in avoiding this in the first place.
That’s why we are deepening our partnerships with the Pacific Island nations and others to meetimmediate threats and long-term development challenges. And we’re working through USAIDand other multilateral institutions to increase the resilience of communities. And we’reelevating our engagement through the Pacific Islands Forum. And we’ve signed maritimeboundaries, new maritime boundaries with Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia inorder to promote good governance of the Pacific Ocean and peaceful relations among islandnations. And we’re also working on a Pacific Pathway of marine protected areas that includesPresident Obama’s commitment to explore a protected area of more than a million squaremiles in size in the U.S. remote Pacific.
We just held a conference on the oceans in Washington the other day with nations all over theworld came to it – unbelievably productive. We produced $1.8 billion of commitments to helpwith fisheries enforcement, anti-pollution, dealing with acidification, and to protect theseareas as marine sanctuaries.
The good news is in the end – and this really – it really is good news. Sometimes you have anissue – Mr. Mayor, I know you know this. Governors, you know this. You’re looking at an issueand, man, you scratch your head and you’re not quite sure what the solution is, right? Andyou work through it. Well, the good news is the biggest challenge of all that we face right now,which is climate change in terms of international global effect, is an opportunity. It’s actuallyan extraordinary opportunity because it’s not a problem without a solution. The solutionto climate change is simple. It’s called energy policy. Energy policy. Make the right choicesabout how you produce your energy – without emissions, without coal-fired power plants thatdon’t have carbon capture and storage or aren’t burning clean – then you can begin toproduce clean energy.
And the new energy market that we’re looking at is the biggest market the world has ever seen.Think about that for a moment. The wealth that was generated in the 1990s – I don’t know ifyou know this, but most people think that America got the richest during the 1920s when youhad the so-called, even in the late 1800s, robber baron years, and then you had the greatnames of wealth – Carnegie, Mellon, Frick, Rockefeller, and so forth. And no income tax – wow,gonna make a lot of money.
Guess what. America made more wealth and more money for more people in the 1990s than atany other time in our history. And what it came from, the wealth that was generated then, wasthe high-tech computer revolution of the 1990s, and guess what. It came from a $1 trillionmarket with 1 billion users, 1 for 1. The energy market that we’re looking at in the world todayis six times bigger, by far more important. It’s a $6 trillion market today with 4 to 5 billionusers today, and it will go up to 7 to 9 billion users in the next 30 years. The fastest segmentby far of growth in that market is clean energy.
We need to build a grid in America. We need to – we could use solar thermal to produce heatin Massachusetts, in Minnesota, take wind power from our states, sell it somewhere else. Wecan’t even do that because we don’t have that grid in place.
So I want to emphasize to all of you: We’re not going to find a sustainable energy mix in the19th century or 20th century solutions. Those are the problems. We need a formula for 21stcentury that will sustainably power us into the 22nd century. And I believe that, workingtogether, the United States and countries across the Asia Pacific can make this leap. That’s anexciting opportunity and that’s what we’re working on with China today.
The bottom line is we don’t have time to waste. If we’re going to power a clean energyrevolution, we have to work together to dampen security competition and rivalry in theAsia Pacific and focus on these other constructive efforts. And so our third challenge is clear:We need to turn maritime conflicts into regional cooperation.
All of us in this room understand that these disputes in the South China Sea and elsewhere,they’re really about more than claims to islands and reefs and rocks and the economic intereststhat flow from them. They’re about whether might makes right or whether global rules andnorms and rule of law and international law will prevail. I want to be absolutely clear: TheUnited States of America takes no position on questions of sovereignty in the South and EastChina Sea, but we do care about how those questions are resolved. We care about behavior. Wefirmly oppose the use of intimidation and coercion or force to assert a territorial claim byanyone in the region. And we firmly oppose any suggestion that freedom of navigation andoverflight and other lawful uses of the sea and airspace are privileges granted by a big state toa small one. All claimants must work together to solve the claims through peaceful means, bigor small. And these principles bind all nations equally, and all nations have a responsibility touphold them.
Now, I just participated in the ASEAN Regional Forum, and we were encouraged there to – weencouraged the claimants there to defuse these tensions and to create the political space forresolution. We urged the claimants to voluntarily freeze steps that threatened to escalatethe disputes and to cause instability. And frankly, I think that’s common sense and I suspectyou share that. I’m pleased to say that ASEAN agreed that the time has come to seekconsensus on what some of those actions to be avoided might be, based on the commitmentsthat they’ve already made in the 2019 Declaration on Conduct.
Now, we cannot impose solutions on the claimants in the region, and we’re not seeking to dothat. But the recent settlement between Indonesia and the Philippines is an example of howthese disputes could be resolved through good-faith negotiations. Japan and Taiwan, likewise,showed last year that it’s possible to promote regional stability despite conflicting claims. Andwe support the Philippines’ taking steps to resolve its maritime dispute with China peacefully,including through the right to pursue arbitration under the UN Convention on the Law of theSea. And while we already live by its principles, the United States needs to finish the job andpass that Treaty once and for all.
Now, one thing that I know will contribute to maintaining regional peace and stability is aconstructive relationship between the United States and China. President Obama has made itclear that the United States welcomes the rise of a peaceful, prosperous, and stable China –one that plays a responsible role in Asia and the world and supports rules and norms oneconomic and security issues. The President has been clear, as have I, that we are committedto avoiding the trap of strategic rivalry and intent on forging a relationship in which we canbroaden our cooperation on common interests and constructively manage our differences anddisagreements.
But make no mistake: This constructive relationship, this “new model” relationship of greatpowers, is not going to happen simply by talking about it. It’s not going to happen byengaging in a slogan or pursuing a sphere of influence. It will be defined by more and bettercooperation on shared challenges. And it will be defined by a mutual embrace of the rules,the norms, and institutions that have served both of our nations and the region so well. I amvery pleased that China and the United States are cooperating effectively on the Iran nucleartalks and we’ve increased our dialogue on the DPRK. We’re also cooperating significantly onclimate change possibilities, counter-piracy operations, and South Sudan.
So we are busy trying to define a great power relationship by the places where we can findmutual agreement and cooperation. We’ve seen the benefits of partnerships based oncommon values and common approaches to regional and global security. Secretary of DefenseChuck Hagel and I met with our Australian counterparts in Sydney earlier this week and wereviewed the U.S.-Australian alliance from all sides. And though we live in very differenthemispheres, obviously, and at opposite ends of the globe, the United States and Australia aretoday as close as nations can get. Our time-honored alliance has helped both of our countries toachieve important goals: standing with the people of Ukraine, supporting long-term progress inAfghanistan, promoting shared prosperity in the Asia Pacific, and collaborating on the UnitedNations Security Council. And we also agreed to expand our trilateral cooperation with Japan,and that will allow us to further modernize the U.S.-Japan alliance as we address a broaderarray of security challenges. Similarly, with our ally South Korea, our partnership on agrowing range of regional and global challenges has brought much greater security to Asiaand beyond.
History shows us that countries whose policies respect and reflect universal human rights andfundamental freedoms are likely to be peaceful and prosperous, far more effective attapping the talents of their people, and far better partners in the long term.
That is why our fourth and final challenge is so important: We need to turn human rightsproblems into opportunities for human empowerment. Across the region, there are bright spots.But we also see backsliding, such as the setback to democracy in Thailand.
We all know that some countries in the region hold different views on democratic governanceand the protection of human rights. But though we may sometimes disagree on these issueswith the governments, I don’t think we have any fundamental disagreement with theirpeople.
Given a choice, I don’t think too many young people in China would choose to have less accessto uncensored information, rather than more. I don’t think too many people in Vietnam wouldsay: “I’d rather not be allowed to organize and speak out for better working conditions or ahealthy environment.” And I can’t imagine that anyone in Asia would watch more than a 130million people go to the polls in Indonesia to choose a president after a healthy, vigorous, andpeaceful debate and then say: “I don’t want that right for myself.” I also think most peoplewould agree that freedom of speech and the press is essential to checking corruption, and itis essential that rule of law is needed to protect innovation and to enable businesses tothrive. That’s why support for these values is both universal and pragmatic.
I visited Indonesia in February, and I saw the promise of a democratic future. The world’sthird largest democracy sets a terrific example for the world. And the United States is deeplycommitted to our comprehensive partnership. Indonesia is not just an expression of differentcultures and languages and faiths. By deepening its democracy, and preserving its traditionsof tolerance, it can be a model for how Asian values and democratic principles inform andstrengthen one another.
In Thailand, a close friend and ally, we’re very disturbed by the setback to democracy andwe hope it is a temporary bump in the road. We call on the Thai authorities to lift restrictionson political activity and speech, to return – to restore civilian rule, and return quickly todemocracy through free and fair elections.
In Burma last week, I saw firsthand the initial progress the people and the government havemade. And I’m proud of the role – and you should be too – that the United States has playedfor a quarter of a century in encouraging that progress.
But Burma still has a long way to go, and those leading its democratic transformation areonly now addressing the deepest challenges: Defining a new role for the military; reformingthe constitution and supporting free and fair elections; ending a decades-long civil war; andguaranteeing in law the human rights that Burma’s people have been promised in name. All ofthis while trying to attract more investment, combating corruption, protecting the country’sforests and other resources. These are the great tests of Burma’s transition. And we intend totry to help, but in the end the leadership will have to make the critical choices.
The United States is going to do everything we can to help the reformers in Burma, especiallyby supporting nationwide elections next year. And we will keep urging the government – as Idid last week – to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine state, and push backagainst hate speech and religious violence, implement constitutional reform, and protectfreedom of assembly and expression. The government owes it to the people of those – of thatmovement to do those things.
And so, my friends, in the great tradition of our country, we will continue to promote humanrights and democracy in Asia, without arrogance but also without apology.
Elsewhere in Asia, North Korea’s proliferation activities pose a very serious threat to the UnitedStates, the region, and the world. And we are taking steps to deter and defend against NorthKorea’s pursuit of a nuclear-armed ballistic missile capability. But make no mistake: We arealso speaking out about the horrific human rights situation. We strongly supported theextraordinary United Nations investigation this year that revealed the utter, grotesquecruelty of North Korea’s system of labor camps and executions. Such deprivation of humandignity just has no place in the 21st century. North Korea’s gulags should be shut down – nottomorrow, not next week, but now. And we will continue to speak out on this topic.
So you’ve heard me for longer than you might have wanted to – (laughter) – describing apretty ambitious agenda. And you’re right; it’s a big deal. We are super engaged. We areambitious for this process: completing the TPP negotiations, creating sustainable growth,powering a clean energy revolution, managing regional rivalries by promoting cooperation,and empowering people from all walks of life – that’s how we’re going to realize the promise ofthe Asia Pacific. And this is a region whose countries can and should come together, becausethere is much more that unites us than divides us. This is a region that can and should meetdanger and difficulty with courage and collaboration. And we are determined to deliver onthe strategic and historic opportunities that we can create together.
That’s why, together with our Asian partners, we’re developing modern rules for a changingworld – rules that help economies grow strong and fair and just, with protections for theenvironment, safeguards for the people who have both too often been left behind.
That’s why we’re building a region where Asia’s major cities are no longer clouded with smogand smoke, and where people can depend on safe food and water, and clean oceans, clean air,and shared resources from its rivers and its oceans, and with a sense of responsibility onegeneration passes on to the next to preserve all of that for the future.
That’s why we’re building a region where countries peacefully resolve their differences overislands, reefs, rocks by finding the common ground on the basis of international law.
And that’s why we’re building a region that protects the universal human rights andfundamental freedoms that make all nations stronger.
There is still a long road ahead. But nothing gives me more hope in the next miles of thejourney than the courage of those who have reached a different and more hopeful kind offuture. And that is the story that I want to leave you with today.
When I became a senator, getting increasingly more and more involved in the region as ayoung member of the committee and then later as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Asian andPacific Affairs, the first trip I took in 1986 was to the Philippines. Strongman Ferdinand Marcoshad called a sham “snap” election to fake everybody to prove how in charge he was, topreserve his grasp on power. President Reagan asked Senator Richard Lugar and me to be partof a delegation to observe those elections.
And I will never forget arriving in Manila and seeing this unbelievable flood of people in thestreets all decked out in their canary yellow shirts and banners of pro-democracy protest.Some of us knew at that time there were allegations of fraud. I was sent down initially toMindanao to observe the morning votes and then came back to Manila, and was sitting in thehotel there when a woman came up to me crying and said, “Senator, you must come with me tothe cathedral. There are women there who fear for their lives.”
And I left my dinner and I ran down to the cathedral. I came in to the Sacristi of thecathedral and talked with these 13 women who were crying and huddled together, intimidatedfor their lives. And I listened to their story about how they were counting the raw tally of thevotes that was coming in from all across the nation, but the raw tally of votes they werecounting was not showing up on the computer tote board recording the votes. They blew thewhistle on a dictator. We held an international press conference right there in the cathedralright in front of the alter, and they spoke out, and that was the signal to Marcos it was over.Their courage and the courage of the Filipino people lit a spark that traveled throughout theworld, inspiring not just a freshman senator from Massachusetts, but popular movementsfrom Eastern Europe to Burma.
Now, I think about that moment even today, about the power of people to make their voicesfelt. I think about how Cory Aquino rose to the presidency atop a wave of people power whenfew believed that she could. I think about how her husband fought for democracy, even at thecost of his own life. And I think about how, decades later, their son would rise to the presidencyin democratic elections. In his inaugural address, President Benigno Aquino said: “Myparents sought nothing less, died for nothing less, than democracy and peace. I am blessed bythis legacy. I shall carry the torch forward.”
My friends, today we must all summon up some of that courage, we must all carry that torchforward. The cause of democracy and peace, and the prosperity that they bring, can bringour legacy in the Asian Pacific, it can define it. Our commitment to that future, believe me itis strong. Our principles are just. And we are in this for the long haul – clear-eyed about thechallenges ahead.
Thank you. (Applause.)
