Commending Taiwan for its History of Democratic Elections, and Expressing Support of Taiwan's Democratic Institutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise with my colleague from Alaska, Senator Sullivan. He and I are good colleagues. We work together on the Armed Services Committee. I work closely with him. I learn a lot from him. And, usually, on Thursday afternoons, I am learning about an Alaskan of the week from Senator Sullivan. But here it is on a Thursday afternoon, and we are standing to offer a unanimous consent resolution in support of Taiwanese democracy.

I want to drill that just a little bit more of what a good news story Taiwanese democracy is. As many of you know, Taiwan was a single-party nation under martial law through much of its history through the end of the 1980s. In the late 1980s, Taiwan made a decision. It made a fundamental decision to move toward democracy.

It had its first legislative elections in the early 1990s and its first Presidential election in 1996. And since that election, as my colleague mentioned, it has had numerous Presidential elections, numerous legislative elections; and, often, those elections have led to transfer in power--transfer of the Presidency from one party to another, transfer of legislative majority from one party to another.

But Taiwan has built a democracy that is stable enough to withstand that, and its respect for human rights, freedom of religion, free press, and its successful economy has borne proof to the notion that allowing all Taiwanese to participate in democracy has been wonderful for Taiwanese society.

I think Taiwan is a great example. Often in this Chamber, we are grappling with really tough issues around the world. We wonder: Will Cuba ever be a human rights respecting democracy? Look at Taiwan. What about Venezuela? Look at Taiwan. What about the People's Republic of China? Look at Taiwan. What about Russia? Look at Taiwan.

It is important that we shine a spotlight on nations that have made the transition from authoritarian to democracy and succeeded socially, politically, culturally, economically in that transition.

As my colleague said, that is a good-news sign, but it is also a sign that makes dictators very, very worried.

The purpose for this resolution is to stand and support Taiwanese democracy. As my colleague mentioned, China has been very engaged in dis- and misinformation campaigns surrounding this election.

The election is this weekend. The inauguration will not be until May. We could even foresee some potential challenge between the election and the inauguration, and we need to stand strong and support Taiwanese democracy to do so.

Last thing I will say is this: I led a delegation from the Senate about exactly a month ago to Guatemala under some similar circumstances, and the President who was in the chair just a few minutes before you, Senator Butler, came along with me, along with some other Senate and House colleagues.

There was a Presidential election in Guatemala and President-elect Bernardo Arevalo was swept into office on an anti-corruption campaign, promising Guatemalan citizens a real democracy that they have deserved for a very long time.

The outgoing government was trying to disrupt the prospect of a peaceful transfer of power, and so we took a bicameral delegation down to talk tough to the outgoing government and to speak up for the incoming government and try to preserve democracy in Guatemala.

Why do I bring that up now? I bring it up because Guatemala is one of the few nations in the world that recognizes Taiwan, and there had been a very furious and corrupt effort by China to get the government or Presidential candidates to guarantee they would switch allegiance from Taiwan to the People's Republic of China.

When we were there supporting the will of the Guatemalan people who overwhelmingly elected Bernardo Arevalo to be their next President, he made a commitment to us that they weren't going to change, they weren't going to succumb to Chinese pressure. They were going to continue to stand together with another democracy that is moving forward.

That inauguration will happen on Sunday. The Taiwanese election happens on Saturday. We are standing here together, Senator Sullivan and I, to support democracies around the world, whether it be Taiwan in East Asia, Guatemala in Central America; the United States should stand up for those who are embracing a democratic path, and I am proud to support--along with so many of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle--this UC resolution.

And with that, I yield to my colleague from Alaska.

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