{"id":2364,"date":"2015-06-01T18:25:40","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T10:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/?p=2364"},"modified":"2026-10-20T14:32:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T06:32:01","slug":"20150601-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/20150601-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Shih Ming Te to the U.S. Congress: \u201cI Bring Only Confidence\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2364\" class=\"elementor elementor-2364\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6d1281c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"6d1281c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b81fd28 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"b81fd28\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The full text of Mr. Shih Ming Te\u2019s statement at a U.S. congressional hearing in 1990:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-adc8d61 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"adc8d61\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>\u201cMr. Chairman:<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cA few days ago, friends told me that your committee would be inviting me to today\u2019s hearing. I asked myself: if I came, what would it mean for my country, and for the ideals and beliefs to which I have given my life? I hesitated.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cAs word spread, friends joined, one after another, in urging me on.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cOne suggested: \u2018You can go there and testify that the government of Taiwan is still violating human rights \u2014 that people are still behind bars for what they say and what they think; that those imprisoned as political prisoners over the past forty years have yet to regain their civil rights and their right to work; that many Taiwanese abroad, and international human rights workers, are still barred from returning to Formosa, the beautiful island of their dreams; that those in power are planning to arrest Taiwan\u2019s environmental, labor, and farmers\u2019 movement activists under the anti-hoodlum laws; that families of soldiers who died in military service are often still not told the true cause of death; that any party or individual who dares to state the plain, commonsense truth that the sovereignty of the Republic of China no longer extends to mainland China, Outer Mongolia, or Tibet still faces dissolution or arrest\u2026.\u2019<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cTrue, these are all facts in Taiwan. But are they unknown to the U.S. government and the U.S. Congress? Are they worth my coming here in person to make these charges?<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cAnother urged me: \u2018As someone held in such affection by the people of Taiwan, you must tell the U.S. Congress that Taiwan is not part of the People\u2019s Republic of China, and that the people of Taiwan have the right to independence and self-determination.\u2019<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cI smiled: \u2018The U.S. government and the U.S. Congress have long needed no reminder from me on that point.\u2019<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cA number of people told me: \u2018You should testify before the U.S. Congress and expose the National Affairs Conference for the sham it is. The Kuomintang staged the National Affairs Conference only to deflect the Taiwanese people\u2019s strong demands for constitutional reform, a full re-election of the national legislature, and direct presidential elections, and the great call for democracy raised by the March student movement. Now the conference is over, and the hope of reform has receded further still.\u2019<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cI do not believe the U.S. government and the U.S. Congress are so unfamiliar with Taiwan\u2019s politics as not to know that Taiwan still has members of parliament who have not faced re-election in forty years \u2014 or that a fierce power struggle is under way at the top of the Kuomintang, with Taiwan\u2019s democratization and Taiwan\u2019s security offered up as the sacrifice.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cSome even telephoned me from overseas to implore me to tell the U.S. Congress: \u2018The Chinese imperialists keep threatening to conquer Taiwan by force if they must, while inside Taiwan a group of power-seekers bent on holding on to their privileged positions forever are colluding with the Beijing government, openly or in secret, in a plot to bury the rights and interests of the people of Taiwan\u2026.\u2019<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cWhen I was only a boy of eight, I was made to chant along with Chiang Kai-shek\u2019s government: \u2018One year to prepare, two years to counterattack, three years to mop up, five years to victory.\u2019 And for forty years I have heard the Beijing government bluster about \u2018liberating Taiwan\u2019 and \u2018washing Taiwan in blood.\u2019 Beijing\u2019s threat to take Taiwan by force has served only to give the Kuomintang regime an excuse to delay democratization, and to raise the standing of those politicians who refuse to identify with Taiwan.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cThe day before yesterday, someone lectured me in tones of stern righteousness: \u2018All of Taiwan\u2019s present ills \u2014 its diplomatic isolation, its polluted environment, its bankrupt farmers, its politicians without principle, its rampant profit-first mentality \u2014 are the work of the American imperialists. In recent years the U.S. government has even let, or quietly directed, the government of Taiwan to support the white government of South Africa and to use the wealth of the Taiwanese people to prop up certain dictatorships in Central and South America, making Taiwan an accomplice of imperialism. Why don\u2019t you go and denounce them before the U.S. Congress?\u2019<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cThe United States operates widely and deeply across most of the world to protect its economic interests, its political influence, and its dominance. Is there still any need for me to accuse or criticize it?<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cLast night, I decided to come, and rode a not-so-clean train from New York to get here.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cI have not come here to ask the United States to rescue us, the people of Taiwan, or to protect our basic human rights.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cI have not come here to attack our government in Taiwan.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cStill less have I come here to plead with the People\u2019s Republic of China to respect the right of us Taiwanese to self-determination.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cI have come here, and in my luggage I have brought only one message:<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cWe, the sons and daughters of Taiwan of this generation, have absolute confidence. We will not kowtow to the strong. We will not yield to any oppressor. We firmly believe that, relying on the strength, wisdom, and ability of the people of Taiwan themselves, we will resolve every problem and challenge before us.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cWe will sweep away every injustice that violates human rights, democracy, and fairness, and build a great and just society in Taiwan.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cWe will preserve our nation\u2019s independence and the integrity of its sovereignty.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cWe will defeat any foreign aggressor, and anyone who schemes to sell out Taiwan.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cThrough the long and bitter twenty-five years of my imprisonment, what allowed me to bear every hardship and resist every temptation was a confidence that can never be crushed!<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cThe new generation of Taiwanese has this confidence too!<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cFinally, permit me to say, with regret: although I have come to this hearing today, as a Taiwanese I do not believe it is fitting, or right, for me to be questioned or examined by the members of another nation\u2019s legislature in that legislature. I will gladly answer any question in other, private settings. This is a matter of principle, and I ask for your understanding.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cMay the friendship between the peoples of our two nations endure forever.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cMay the wisdom and love of the Creator nourish the earth.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cPeace be with you all.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cShih Ming Te<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>\u201cOctober 11, 1990, Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-98ccb42 elementor-widget-mobile__width-inherit elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"98ccb42\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_animation&quot;:&quot;fadeIn&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"636\" 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1990:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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