listen live on the free c-span radio app. >> campaign 2020 watch our continuing kochl of the presidential candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind as the voting begins next month, watch our live coverage of the iowa caucuses on monday, february 3rd. c-span's campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. >> earlier this month, taiwan's president won a second determine and the democratic progressive party kept its majority in the legislature. next, taiwan's representative to the u.s. and house foreign affairs committee member ted yoho look at what this means for the u.s.-taiwan relations. [inaudible conversations]

>> had he will -- hello and welcome, i'm walter loemann director of studies at the heritage foundation. i appreciate you all coming out. thank you. i particularly want to thank you russell and the taiwan global parting -- partnering on this program. and there was an election over the weekend. judging by the turnout, perhaps you did. at the outset i just wanted to say a couple of words about the elections in taiwan on saturday and just a couple and turn it over to our guests and panel speakers to offer some real insight. first of all, i think that the election says more about taiwan than it says about anything else. and i only highlight that because i think we all are immediately moving to what this means for china. you know, for all practical

purposes, all practical purposes, taiwan is really not a part of china. so why do we move immediately to talk about what this means for china? what it means most is that taiwan values the same things that the rest of the free world values. it's conducted its 7th presidential election, free election, and a major accomplishment. in fact, it's getting to be such a normal thing, it barely even merits congratulations anymore, because we have an election, too, every four years, every two years, midterm elections and the world doesn't congratulate us on making such achievement. it's commonplace in taiwan, it's commonplace because they value the same things we do. i think the elections do hold a message for china and it's more than just one country, two systems and all that, which does get back to some of those fundamental issues. what it says to china is that it needs to take a new approach

to taiwan, one that recognizes where people in taiwan are on matters of taiwan sovereignty and taiwan's relationship with china. will they do that and we'll hear from our guests in that regard. i'm very skeptical that they will because i think in beijing, there's an attitude that they can sort of predict the future, that they understand the ways of history and that somehow history and economics will vindicate them in the long run. i think it's actually sort of an intellectually arrogant way to look at the future. what they need to do is look more closely at the demographics and at the trend in taiwan and despite all odds that they will not do that, i really hope they will. third thing, i think that this election holds, it holds

lessons for u.s.-taiwan relations going forward. i think it offers some new opportunities. the reelection and her position although slightly diminished also gives an opportunity for the u.s. and taiwan to move forward on some things and in particular move forward on a free trade agreement which i would say would be the number one priority in the relationship going forward here right out of the gate at the election. because it coincides with opportunity that's been created on the u.s. side. so we've got a terrific group of people to talk to us about this today and we're going to start out with congressman ted yoho. ted yoho is a congressman from florida representing the third district which he has done for seven years, but more relevant to our task today is the fact that he's ranking member on the

house subcommittee on foreign affairs related to asia pacific. congressman yoho has been a friend and ally of the heritage foundation and i know many of the think tanks in washington that focus on asia generally, but specifically on taiwan. i don't know if you've heard this news, but congressman yoho is actually in his final term because remarkably he's keeping a pledge he made when he was elected that he would term limit himself. i think that's terrific achievement and i'm proud of him for having done that. but having worked with him a little bit over the last few years, i can tell you, one year is plenty of time for him to make trouble. so i'm sure he'll have a lot to do this coming year and i'm sure he'll go out very strong so we're very happy to have him here today to talk about the significance of the elections and what it holds in store for u.s.-taiwan relations. congressman yoho?

[applause] >> walter, i appreciate it. good morning, everybody. i want to get a water ready here. to my taiwanese friends, hello ambassador stanley kao who we've developed a great relationship. we appreciate your hospitality on everything that we've asked and we've done with you. you've always been there with taiwan and we appreciate it. so happy new year to everybody. i want to start off just saying congratulations to taiwan's president tsai ing-wen. it speaks volume on taiwan's future. by winning by the largest margin and beating her opponent, it sends a clear message where taiwan and people of taiwan stand. they stand for liberty and

freedom and democracy with no interference from any nation. president tsai is the modern ronald reagan of the asia region. unfortunately, china appears to dismiss president tsai's victory and her offer and that offer is to start a dialog with beijing on conditions that taiwan's sovereignty and democracy are to be respected. china's taiwan's affairs office reiterated that dialog must be predicated on the acknowledgment that taiwan is part of one china and china's commitment to applying the one country two systems formula, that is trying to be currently used to govern hong kong as a semi ow autonomous territory. and it's in the world standing and it's changed the narrative

of a safe international hub for doing business. business travel, business, travel and tourism have declined precipitously during the past seven months and unless things change in hong kong, they will continue. and it will take years for that economy to recover. china has to be wondering if that effort to take control of the judicial system and the dishonor the 50-year agreement they had made between great britain and china was worth it. it was beijing's growing influence in the legal system and the performance to handle the protests in hong kong that undoubtedly energized the taiwanese people and the opposition to the proposal of a one country two system. china would be wise to apply the lessons they are learning. they are actively learning in hong kong to further actions against taiwan. that is, if you threaten one's

freedom, democracy and sovereignty, there will be a huge cost paid. keep in mind, the people of hong kong and much of the real-- and much of the world, they realize that hong kong is a province of china. i mean, these pretty well written. that was in the agreement in 1997 by great britain and china. by the people that made that commitment, there was no question that hong kong is a province of china. taiwan is not. and has never been part of the prc, or the chinese communist party. you guys know the history of how taiwan formed when shanghai left they fought the civil war and lost and left taiwan and developed the new nation. it's a vague policy and i blame our country and some of our leaders, the policy of president nixon and carter and henry kissinger that allowed

the one country two system cloud that-- confusing cloud of confusion to be maintained for too long and it's time to clarify this confusion before china's action escalates more tension in the region and gets to a flash point that we don't want to see, as they did in hong kong, with the now infamous and misguided extradition law before it's too late. this is something that nobody wants. we've seen enough conflict in this world. i'm 65-- well, i'm not quite. i'll be 65 in april and i've seen enough conflict. this is something at that we should work together through diplomacy so that nations can prosper. if nations pro per, the people prosper. if the people prosper, we're all safer. china has accused president tsai and her party of stealing the victory with populous policies, smears against political rivals and fear

mongering against china and they've also contributed the result of foreign interference, particularly the united states. this is so false. it's their action. and you know, we've got singled out, along with senator rubio, chuck schumer, and nancy pelosi and myself as the ones that were causing the dissent in hong kong. the blame for that falls strictly on beijing with the extradition law that they pushed through. and we've written about this and i meant to bring some pictures that i don't have. the people of hong kong have experienced freedom and liberty. they've had that for over 70 years and unfortunately the people from china, of the communist people and xi jinping, the bureau and the

cpc, i've coined, chinese communist and you try to take that away from somebody, it's a force of nature that says no, we will not be suppressed. again, president tsai said she is willing to have dialog with china if there is respect for taiwan sovereignty and democracy. that's all they're asking. president tsai is wise to pivot to the south for economic diversification. and where do we go from here. the people of taiwan have spoken clearly and suscinctly they want to have their sovereignty and self government. president tsai to pivot to the south to increase diplomatic relations with all countries, diversification, and investments with other countries so that they're not solely dependent on china. and we, countries in the free world, should continue to

increase taiwan's world acceptance in the form of diplomatic acceptance and reentry into the world organizations like the world health assembly and the u.n. we're one of the first i know in congress when beijing forced taiwan out of the wha, the world health assembly and said that they couldn't be represented there independently, we said this is not right. taiwan has contributed so much to the world of health. you know, with the sars epidemic and they're going to continue to do that and these are things that they know no borders. when you get into epidemiology, and they know no borders. for them to say you cannot participate is wrong. one cannot believe that xi jinping would change his policies, for him to do so admitting mistakes, and in china he cannot afford to. that would show weakness and he

can't afford to, especially with elections in a couple of years. and yet xi and ccp would be wise to accept taiwan's willingness, understand this, to accept the willingness of the status quo and respect their sovereignty. china has nothing to gain by trying to unify taiwan to the mainland, however, they have much to lose. it will force an international backlash with countries and companies wanting to divest from china. i mean, i see that so clearly. you see that already in hong kong, i've got businesses who said we were in hong kong and thinking about expanding, but we're not now. and that's for an area that people agree is a province of china. it will force an international backlash like i said, and these companies will want to divest from china. if china accepts the status quo

that taiwan is sovereign and self-governing democracy, they, taiwan, and the world, will all benefit. xi and china would gain much respect to accept president tsai's offer and to leave them alone and with that, i'm going to conclude my remarks and i appreciate you all letting me come by and talk. i just feel very strongly about this and i know as we talk to people from around the world, we've got our manufacturers looking to do the abc model, and that's manufacturing anywhere, but china because of the suppression, repression, and the lack of following the rule of law. and this is something that will continue until china chooses to change their tactics. we can't force china to do anything. i don't want to. but i think we, as democracies around the world, we can have

actions changed by the way we choose to do business and whom we choose to do business. so, again, i want to congratulate president tsai for winning a resounding election. looking forward to her leadership and looking forward to ambassador kao and thank you for letting me come by and participate. [applause] >> yeah, you'll be happy to. >> we've got time for one or two questions from the audience down in front. we'll get you a microphone. >> here is-- >> good morning, congressman, this is tina chong with voice of america, chinese branch. >> good morning. >> yeah, after this election we're seeing the chinese foreign ministry sending a very strong message urging the world community to adhere to the one china principle, but do you see after taiwan people sending a

message to the world that they want to stand in a democratic side of the world, do you see the international community starting to open up after secretary pompeo sending his message, congratulatory message, you see more countries open up and to be more openly supporting taiwan? >> i think we will see that. i truly believe that and if you look at hong kong, it's a province of, you know, pushing eight million people. 25% of those people are coming out and protesting because of the removal of the freedom and liberty. i have a set of pictures i didn't bring, but i can describe them to you. i've got a blade of grass and i've got an asphalt road. if i were to ask you which is stronger, you could look at them. i mean, asphalt is hard and can

crush the grass, but when you see grass growing and pushing through asphalt, which is more powerful? what that represents is freedom and liberty, you can't suppress that. that's an innate ability or trait that all humans have, they want to have. and china doesn't have enough people or money to express freedom and i think you'll see countries and companies further expand, is my prediction in the future, to taiwan. and if china is smart, they would accept, and respect the offer president tsai. she's not looking for independence, she just wants to be left alone as her people do, and i think they would be well-served if they did that. china has benefitted so much from what taiwan and the world has. why would you want to rock the boat. you see what's happened in hong kong. when the numbers come out you're going to see a huge drop in their productivity and their gdp and i think other countries

will recognize that. >> one more. >> another question? >> with united news group taiwan. congressman, you've argued it's time to recognize taiwan as a country. will you push u.s. to recognize or dual recognition, both china and taiwan? >> we have done that and we'll continue to do that. when you go back to the foundation and when shanghai fought the war, the ruler of china after world war ii, he was the ruler and they had the conflict with the communists, he lost and they brought the kmt to taiwan and they formed their own nation. since that time, they've got their own flag, their own economy, their own form of government, their own national anthem, their own military. and they're an economic

powerhouse. you know, i think there our 11th largest trading partner. again, if china was smart, they would not cause disruption where they can't win. i mean, yeah, they could overpower taiwan, they could do that, but is that really going to pay to their benefit and play to their benefit long-term? or is that going to cause not just a regional conflict? do you think other western democracies are going to sit still and watch a democracy in that part of the region that's not causing anybody any problems, they're benefitting, they're contributing, are we all going to sit around and watch that being taken away? that's the question they need to ask their pure owe and xi jinping can save face by changing policies. that will be his decision. i know where this country will probably stand, you know, we've got taiwan's relation act 40 years into the making. we had a visit by president tsai. we're honored to be able to sit

with her up in new york right next to her during that dinner and i think you'll see that happen more around the world and i think you'll see other countries come and reopen relationships with taiwan. we're at a point-- we're in the 21st century, we don't need to conquer nations, we need to expand nations and expand trade and focus on things that make us all stronger. ... pplause] >> that was terrific. particularly good analogy. i will remember that one. that's poignant and very applicable to your daily suburban life. so i really like that analogy. >> i do have the great pleasure and honor now to bring to the stage stanley kao, taiwan's representative to the united states what he is been for about four years now. you can be forgiven if it seems

like much longer than 40 years because i think some of us has known scams for long a time because of represented taiwan refor some 40 years and foreign service in switzerland, malaysia, hungary, many headquarter post and other stints in washington in the past. he brings a tremendous amount of wisdom to this job and his ability and is been an excellent representative here in washington, an interlocutor to all of us were interested taiwan issues. let me invite stanley to come to the stage and offer his remarks. [applause] >> well, thank you very much for having me, walter. i think first of all, immediately after the election results came official, in addition to the state department's warm encouraging

message of congratulations,, there was one particular gentleman tweeted, secretary mike pompeo. and he tweeted, i quote, the united states congratulates tsai ing-wen on her reelection in taiwan's election. taiwan once again demonstrates the strength of its robust democratic system. thank you, president tsai, for your leadership in developing a strong u.s. partnership. and we thank him, secretary pompeo, and all taiwan's robust democratic system and president tsai leadership in developing the u.s. partnership. we could not agree with him more. and here congressman yoho, i would like to also take this opportunity to thank you so much

for some of the most gracious and powerful support. this brought me back to march march 2019, right here on this stage of the heritage foundation, congressman yoho joined senator kori gardner of colorado and cheered by doctor horner in videoconference with president tsai when she was transiting honolulu, hawaii, and i were sitting besides her. the conversation, it was so lively, so enjoyable, so inspiring and stimulating. and again six months ago july 2019, congressman yoho would travel from washington to new york and beat the crazy traffic in midtown manhattan and met with her in the big apple,

and and also attended a gala dinner where she received a major gift from national endowment of democracy and the freedom house for her outstanding leadership in defending taiwan's sovereignty, democracy, political freedom, civil liberties, and human rights. and just to remind you, because of all this great american organization,, ngos, what they've been doing, , the right things in been doing, national endowment,on freedom house and there's a couple of others being blacklisted by china, and just yesterday the human rights watch was denied entry in hong kong again because of what this organization has been doing,

something right. so this is a very important issue here and we always believe that any proud country, united states, taiwan, big or small, like any proud individual, man and woman in this room, if you don't stand for something, you are far from anything. and this is what the general 11th election in taiwan were all about. this is what the robust u.s.-taiwan relations are about. it's about celebration of the victory of democracy in action, a triumph of a vibrant civil society, embracing freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, market

economy, fair and free trade, the rule of law, and abiding respect for human rights and human dignity, and regional peace and stability. and those are our shared core values and beliefs in our common interests by all means. and i asked congressman yoho as he rightly pointed out, in some corner of the world democracy may be in recession or in retreat, but given the extremely precarious situation in hong kong, in tibet, the muslim gulags in xinjiang and the millions of underground christians what have to go through in china, the 23 million men and women on taiwan stay the course. at the forefront pushing back

day in andn, day out this intimidation, infiltration, bullying, and nonsense from 800-pound, colossus, distant cousin across the street. however, in president tsai's postelection speech, she keptsp her, her cool, per usual non-provocative, nonconfrontational approach calling for resumption of constructive exchange between two sides based on the principle of peace, parody, democracy, and a dialogue with no coercion and no political precondition. so on january 11, taiwan citizens have their voice, have

their choice clearly made, and their voice unequivocally heard through a transparent and peaceful process, and once again proved that democracy works, and works well in taiwan in such a chinese speaking taiwan. it is absolutely taiwan's biggest asset and strength, and this brings me back to one of my favorite old sayings, that if you want to go go fast, go alo. if you want to go far, go together. no, we never take democracy or taiwan's democratic success story for granted, but it is also about this overwhelming bipartisan support and unwavering commitments from the american people, u.s. congress,

american government, and each one of you in this room, and numerous others, the firm believers and key driver so that taiwan could become a democracy as it is today, and remain a vital and reliable partner. rest assured that taiwan will continue to join the u.s. and all like-minded countries in protecting, pursuing our shared core values, beliefs and common interests here yes, taiwan can help. we are always punch above its weight to help. thank you very much. [applause] >> with that i like to invite russell executive director of the global taiwan institute to

the stage in this panel. russell has assembled a representative panelbl of some f the most authoritative opinion onon u.s.-taiwan relations imaginable, reps from project 2049, csis i and george washington university, a long-time experts in the field. with this i went over to russell and he will guide us through a conversationiv on taiwan electin results. thank you. >> good morning, everyone. my nameam is russell hsiao. and executive director of the global taiwan institute. on behalf of gti e i just want u first thank congressman ted yoho and ambassador stanley kao for those exceptional, clear, and inspirational remarks and i think it really helped to set the stage foret the discussion e are about to have. i would also like to express my appreciation to walter lohman

and the heritage foundation for cohosting today's event with gti. gti is a 501(c)(3) think tank dedicated exclusively to taiwan policy research. we have a special issue of our biweekly publication to global taiwan brief that will be released this wednesday written by some of our advisors and in-house analysts providing their assessments on the opportunities and challenges for u.s.-taiwan relations in 2020. if you're not a subscriber, you may do so on our website at www.global taiwan dot orgy. in the interest --.org. i will dispense with a link to the introduction but a what highlights a few points. as alluded to earlier by walter, the elections of help over this weekend were taiwan seventh president elections come its tenth legislative yuan election and there than three peaceful transfer of executive power

since the country of its first direct presidential election in 1996. the island democracy often has a voter participation rate that is the envy of any democracy, new and old. i believe the rate of this election that was just over 74.9%. with all the voices, votes tallied, tsai ing-wen has been reelected president of taiwan by significant margin of 18.5%, or 2.6 5000002.65 million votes.il the people in the only liberal democracy in the chinese speaking world has handed her and her democratic progressive party another four years as the president and the majority control of the legislative branch. indeed, the 2022 elections are significant, but while president tsai's victor is resounding it has been far from smooth and guaranteed.

i think from the dramatic defeat of her partyar in november 2018 elections, local elections, that was interpreted as a referendum on her personally. even with the unprecedented contested primary for an incumbent president, she emerged as the favorite candidate to win the 2020 presidential election an succeeded. . the focus today will be on the latter but let me point out the factors i think we can get into in more detail. third, the turnout of the views.

they are not i have not seen the results yet, but given the high turnout rate we have an all-star cast of analysts and strategic thinkers who analyze what those mean in terms of cross regulations and also the responses. to my immediate left we have the senior adviser for asia and the director of the project at csi s. where she works on issues related t to the securities and focus on chinese foreign and security policy. prior to joining csi s., she was also the consultant for various u.s. government offices including the department of

defense as well as the professor of international affairs. published 22 books over 300 articles and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary affairs. i challenge anyone in the room who pays attention to the asia and is a and in the u.s. government. last but not least, we have said

ththedebate co- secretary for te institute and the policy institutes and the force of strategic defense industries and military political leadership. mark has served in a variety of military and the private sector positions including serving 20 years in the u.s. air force where he worked on intelligence planning and policy. also he served as the infantry director for china in the office of secretary. thank you all we have an incredible lineup of speakers each assigned to the specific topics and threads and for the moderated discussion as well as audience q&a. i would like his first start off to address the issue of their

reactions and implications. >> thank you, russell and walter for inviting me to participate in a panel today. very timely obviously. everybody is very much interested in the implications, so there've been several authoritative reactions and the one i paid close attention to is the one out of the affairs office and if you read into and find that there are references to all of the right phrases when it talks about the relations on kind of principle 1992 consensus operation to taiwan independence there is one phrase think is particularly important and that is as the spokesperson said that development across the relations is the right path to promote the

ties and common development. this is in fact a policy that is inherited into the other aggressive policies china has pursued ove all over the world t just against taiwan. this policy is one they had here, the tactics but the question of course is a placeholder or is this going to be the policy that we see going forward.

very i think probably most of us would agree in a much different direction and let's remember for the first time january 2 last year included in his statement that we saw in the 40th anniversary that that is the is an option but i think that china will conclude is that it's not convenient to draw the judgment of this inquiry don't want to spend my going into great detail in the results of id want to hand over a couple of points i

think china is going to pay attention to. this is the second horse that they have put forth a candidate that wasn't very competitive. i is as much a kid and so i'm going to list the negatives for can they band ata and ineffectie candidate you of is part. that is would have to supports the people are going t were goie questioning me think whether a party they can either look at

going forward. what is so mentioned the views that i think this is a is a rematch against. but is that oh so the negative side of the ledger so all of our concerns and we shouldn't let down the garde their guard and e complacent going forward nevertheless the political operations as active as they were appeared to have not had much success. and one is of course the

candidate won more votes than last time you got more votes and if we look at the party vote in the legislative un vote, they got about the same and they got about 13 seats from their party so that is essentially about 33% of the vote. so, what this tells us is that this was people didn't trust them to defend the sovereignty, that they necessarily increasing and this is what the chinese fear is that there will be a growing support. the big story is the emergence of more third parties. last time it was a new power party and now it is

>> along with colby who was their qb has brought rejected. by their people of taiwan, and so i think that is worth keeping in mind. a few of their positives just to kick off his there are concerns about taiwan that they will conclude that ultimately she is not going to push for independence. they fear that she will particularly unencumbered by the need for reelection. i think they believe the election of the vice president could be a potential conduit for some radical deep green ideas into the covenant butth at the d of the day i think they know

they will not take the same kind of adventurers moves. i don't think there that worried about the international community abandoning one china and the reasons of course for the most important reason for the confidence going forward is their evolving military capabilities. so there will be voices in china and there already our. he's to be their deputy in their taiwan affairs office. he's essentially staying that fires veggies have failed. we should adopt a bargain. i think this is not going to prevail as their policy. i think you have a lot on the mic. their slowing economy, one for the protest in hong kong. tension on going with their united states as well. so i think it into will continue tuesday that unification it inevitable. taiwan it part of china.

but i don't think that he it going to fundamentally find that this it their time to conclude that chinese need have a completely new approach. we go back to their january 2nd speech which i think it important to continue to study. although he it pushing to make progress on unification with taiwan. i personally don't sense that he it urgent about this. i believe he has brought set a deadline of 2049. as my friends and try tuesday he will be alive then anyway. [laughter]. i continue to believe that there it no hard deadlines that he has set. so think we will see their china has brought going to drop its preconditions for cost predict it will continue to learn taiwan and united states not to take provocative moves to challenge chinese sovereignty. their chinese of course our not

going to take watch she said in his victory speech at face value but they will pay attention i think it important to note that we talked about our commitment to peace and staple prostate relations, she said we have maintained non- provocative non- adventurous attitude that has prevented serious consequences for breaking out in their taiwan strait. there our some of people in china who study taiwan who agree with that. they may not be able to do this or say so publicly. i actually think that they understand that she has brought for example, their jeweled referendum that plies to independence as they have. they're not going to accept preconditions. preconditions their dialogue she talked about. for example in accepting their existence of both sides.

i'm quite confident that china it going to accept their existence of their republic of china. but i personally think that the chinese our unlikely to conclude that this is their time to to really use military of course and their risks our high. it's not just a matter of season. taiwan, it's a matter of holding it. it it matter of winning over their people of taiwan. they could face a certain state. but to many people talk about them publicly. happened in hong kong, we'll just have to ask their question to their people and do their people taiwan height for their own sovereignty. i personally believe that these essays they continue to talk about china having an important period of strategic opportunity. and i believe that this includes his assessment that peaceful

development across street relations, their right strategy and their peaceful unification has brought unachievable. that said, they will continue of course their building up of their military capabilities. so their time comes that the leadership decides to support file and it will be prepared. but i would argue that having a decisive military exit advantage it their only factor that they will consider in making such a decision. thank you. >> thanks much. anyway friend didn't take those ways. but i think take away a lot of that in terms of watch type a can take away from this and watch washington can take away from their election results. in beijing their likely reactions. since their charge of abating will react with in review of his simulations in their past four years.