June 29, 1998
Thank you. Thank you, President Chen, Chairmen Ren, Vice President Chi, Vice Minister Wei. We are delighted to be here today with a very large American delegation, including the First Lady and our daughter, who is a student at Stanford, one of the schools with which Beijing University has a relationship.
We have six members of the United States Congress; the Secretary of State; Secretary of Commerce; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Chairman of our Council of Economic Advisors; Senator Sasser, our Ambassador; the National Security Advisor and my Chief of Staff, among others. I say that to illustrate the importance that the United States places on our relationship with China.
I would like to begin by congratulating all of you, the students, the faculty, the administrators, on celebrating the centennial year of your university. Gongxi, Beida.
As I'm sure all of you know, this campus was once home to Yenching University which was founded by American missionaries. Many of its wonderful buildings were designed by an American architect. Thousands of Americans students and professors have come here to study and teach. We feel a special kinship with you.
I am, however, grateful that this day is different in one important respect from another important occasion 79 years ago. In June of 1919, the first president of Yenching University, John Leighton Stuart, was set to deliver the very first commencement address on these very grounds. At the appointed hour, he appeared, but no students appeared. They were all out leading the May 4th Movement for China's political and cultural renewal. When I read this, I hoped that when I walked into the auditorium today, someone would be sitting here. And I thank you for being here, very much.
Over the last 100 years, this university has grown to more than 20,000 students. Your graduates are spread throughout China and around the world. You have built the largest university library in all of Asia. Last year, 20 percent of your graduates went abroad to study, including half of your math and science majors.
And in this anniversary year, more than a million people in China, Asia, and beyond have logged on to your web site. At the dawn of a new century, this university is leading China into the future.
I come here today to talk to you, the next generation of China's leaders, about the critical importance to your future of building a strong partnership between China and the United States.
The American people deeply admire China for its thousands of years of contributions to culture and religion, to philosophy and the arts, to science and technology. We remember well our strong partnership in World War II. Now we see China at a moment in history when your glorious past is matched by your present sweeping transformation and the even greater promise of your future.
Just three decades ago, China was virtually shut off from the world. Now, China is a member of more than 1,000 international organizations enterprises that affect everything from air travel to agricultural development. You have opened your nation to trade and investment on a large scale. Today, 40,000 young Chinese study in the United States, with hundreds of thousands more learning in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.
Your social and economic transformation has been even more remarkable, moving from a closed command economic system to a driving, increasingly market-based and driven economy, generating two decades of unprecedented growth, giving people greater freedom to travel within and outside China, to vote in village elections, to own a home, choose a job, attend a better school.
As a result you have lifted literally hundreds of millions of people from poverty. Per capita income has more than doubled in the last decade. Most Chinese people are leading lives they could not have imagined just 20 years ago.
Of course, these changes have also brought disruptions in settled patterns of life and work, and have imposed enormous strains on your environment.
Once every urban Chinese was guaranteed employment in a state enterprise. Now you must compete in a job market. Once a Chinese worker had only to meet the demands of a central planner in Beijing. Now the global economy means all must match the quality and creativity of the rest of the world. For those who lack the right training and skills and support, this new world can be daunting.
In the short-term, good, hardworking people some, at least will find themselves unemployed. And, as all of you can see, there have been enormous environmental and economic and health care costs to the development pattern and the energy use pattern of the last 20 years from air pollution to deforestation to acid rain and water shortage.
In the face of these challenges new systems of training and social security will have to be devised, and new environmental policies and technologies will have to be introduced with the goal of growing your economy while improving the environment.
Everything I know about the intelligence, the ingenuity, the enterprise of the Chinese people and everything I have heard these last few days in my discussions with President Jiang, Prime Minister Zhu and others give me confidence that you will succeed.
As you build a new China, America wants to build a new relationship with you. We want China to be successful, secure and open, working with us for a more peaceful and prosperous world. I know there are those in China and the United States who question whether closer relations between our countries is a good thing. But everything all of us know about the way the world is changing and the challenges your generation will face tell us that our two nations will be far better off working together than apart.
The late Deng Xiaoping counseled us to seek truth from facts. At the dawn of the new century, the facts are clear. The distance between our two nations, indeed, between any nations, is shrinking. Where once an American clipper ship took months to cross from China to the United States. Today, technology has made us all virtual neighbors.
From laptops to lasers, from microchips to megabytes, an information revolution is lighting the landscape of human knowledge, bringing us all closer together. Ideas, information, and money cross the planet at the stroke of a computer key, bringing with them extraordinary opportunities to create wealth, to prevent and conquer disease, to foster greater understanding among peoples of different histories and different cultures.
But we also know that this greater openness and faster change mean that problems which start beyond one nations borders can quickly move inside them—the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the threats of organized crime and drug trafficking, of environmental degradation, and severe economic dislocation. No nation can isolate itself from these problems, and no nation can solve them alone.
We, especially the younger generations of China and the United States, must make common cause of our common challenges, so that we can, together, shape a new century of brilliant possibilities.
In the 21st century—your century—China and the United States will face the challenge of security in Asia. On the Korean Peninsula, where once we were adversaries, today we are working together for a permanent peace and a future freer of nuclear weapons.
On the Indian subcontinent, just as most of the rest of the world is moving away from nuclear danger, India and Pakistan risk sparking a new arms race. We are now pursuing a common strategy to move India and Pakistan away from further testing and toward a dialogue to resolve their differences.
In the 21st century, your generation must face the challenge of stopping the spread of deadlier nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. In the wrong hands or the wrong places, these weapons can threaten the peace of nations large and small. Increasingly, China and the United States agree on the importance of stopping proliferation. That is why we are beginning to act in concert to control the world’s most dangerous weapons.
In the 21st century, your generation will have to reverse the international tide of crime and drugs. Around the world, organized crime robs people of billions of dollars every year and undermines trust in government. America knows all about the devastation and despair that drugs can bring to schools and neighborhoods. With borders on more than a dozen countries, China has become a crossroad for smugglers of all kinds.
Last year, President Jiang and I asked senior Chinese and American law enforcement officials to step up our cooperation against these predators, to stop money from being laundered, to stop aliens from being cruelly smuggled, to stop currencies from being undermined by counterfeiting. Just this month, our drug enforcement agency opened an office in Beijing, and soon Chinese counter-narcotics experts will be working out of Washington.
In the 21st century, your generation must make it your mission to ensure that today's progress does not come at tomorrow's expense. China's remarkable growth in the last two decades has come with a toxic cost, pollutants that foul the water you drink and the air you breathe—the cost is not only environmental, it is also serious in terms of the health consequences of your people and in terms of the drag on economic growth.
Environmental problems are also increasingly global as well as national. For example, in the near future, if present energy use patterns persist, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the gases which are the principal cause of global warming. If the nations of the world do not reduce the gases which are causing global warming, sometime in the next century there is a serious risk of dramatic changes in climate which will change the way we live and the way we work, which could literally bury some island nations under mountains of water and undermine the economic and social fabric of nations.
We must work together. We Americans know from our own experience that it is possible to grow an economy while improving the environment. We must do that together for ourselves and for the world.
Building on the work that our Vice President, Al Gore, has done previously with the Chinese government, President Jiang and I are working together on ways to bring American clean energy technology to help improve air quality and grow the Chinese economy at the same time.
But I will say this again—this is not on my remarks—your generation must do more about this. This is a huge challenge for you, for the American people and for the future of the world. And it must be addressed at the university level, because political leaders will never be willing to adopt environmental measures if they believe it will lead to large-scale unemployment or more poverty. The evidence is clear that does not have to happen. You will actually have more rapid economic growth and better paying jobs, leading to higher levels of education and technology if we do this in the proper way. But you and the university, communities in China, the United States and throughout the world will have to lead the way.
In the 21st century your generation must also lead the challenge of an international financial system that has no respect for national borders. When stock markets fall in Hong Kong or Jakarta, the effects are no longer local; they are global. The vibrant growth of your own economy is tied closely, therefore, to the restoration of stability and growth in the Asia Pacific region.
China has steadfastly shouldered its responsibilities to the region and the world in this latest financial crisis—helping to prevent another cycle of dangerous devaluations. We must continue to work together to counter this threat to the global financial system and to the growth and prosperity which should be embracing all of this region.
In the 21st century, your generation will have a remarkable opportunity to bring together the talents of our scientists, doctors, engineers into a shared quest for progress. Already the breakthroughs we have achieved in our areas of joint cooperation—in challenges from dealing with spina bifida to dealing with extreme weather conditions and earthquakes—have proved what we can do together to change the lives of millions of people in China and the United States and around the world. Expanding our cooperation in science and technology can be one of our greatest gifts to the future.
In each of these vital areas that I have mentioned, we can clearly accomplish so much more by walking together rather than standing apart. That is why we should work to see that the productive relationship we now enjoy blossoms into a fuller partnership in the new century.
If that is to happen, it is very important that we understand each other better, that we understand both our common interest and our shared aspirations and our honest differences. I believe the kind of open, direct exchange that President Jiang and I had on Saturday at our press conference—which I know many of you watched on television—can both clarify and narrow our differences, and, more important, by allowing people to understand and debate and discuss these things can give a greater sense of confidence to our people that we can make a better future.
From the windows of the White House, where I live in Washington, D.C., the monument to our first President, George Washington, dominates the skyline. It is a very tall obelisk. But very near this large monument there is a small stone which contains these words: The United States neither established titles of nobility and royalty, nor created a hereditary system. State affairs are put to the vote of public opinion.
This created a new political situation, unprecedented from ancient times to the present. How wonderful it is. Those words were not written by an American. They were written by Xu Jiyu, governor of Fujian Province, inscribed as a gift from the government of China to our nation in 1853.
I am very grateful for that gift from China. It goes to the heart of who we are as a people—the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the freedom to debate, to dissent, to associate, to worship without interference from the state. These are the ideals that were at the core of our founding over 220 years ago. These are the ideas that led us across our continent and onto the world stage. These are the ideals that Americans cherish today.
As I said in my press conference with President Jiang, we have an ongoing quest ourselves to live up to those ideals. The people who framed our Constitution understood that we would never achieve perfection. They said that the mission of America would always be "to form a more perfect union"—in other words, that we would never be perfect, but we had to keep trying to do better.
The darkest moments in our history have come when we abandoned the effort to do better, when we denied freedom to our people because of their race or their religion, because there were new immigrants or because they held unpopular opinions. The best moments in our history have come when we protected the freedom of people who held unpopular opinion, or extended rights enjoyed by the many to the few who had previously been denied them, making, therefore, the promises of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution more than faded words on old parchment.
Today we do not seek to impose our vision on others, but we are convinced that certain rights are universal—not American rights or European rights or rights for developed nations, but the birthrights of people everywhere, now enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights—the right to be treated with dignity; the right to express one's opinions, to choose one's own leaders, to associate freely with others, and to worship, or not, freely, however one chooses.
In the last letter of his life, the author of our Declaration of Independence and our third President, Thomas Jefferson, said then that "all eyes are opening to the rights of man." I believe that in this time, at long last, 172 years after Jefferson wrote those words, all eyes are opening to the rights of men and women everywhere.
Over the past two decades, a rising tide of freedom has lifted the lives of millions around the world, sweeping away failed dictatorial systems in the Former Soviet Union, throughout Central Europe; ending a vicious cycle of military coups and civil wars in Latin America; giving more people in Africa the chance to make the most of their hard-won independence. And from the Philippines to South Korea, from Thailand to Mongolia, freedom has reached Asia's shores, powering a surge of growth and productivity.
Economic security also can be an essential element of freedom. It is recognized in the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. In China, you have made extraordinary strides in nurturing that liberty, and spreading freedom from want, to be a source of strength to your people.
Incomes are up, poverty is down; people do have more choices of jobs, and the ability to travel—the ability to make a better life. But true freedom includes more than economic freedom. In America, we believe it is a concept which is indivisible.
Over the past four days, I have seen freedom in many manifestations in China. I have seen the fresh shoots of democracy growing in the villages of your heartland. I have visited a village that chose its own leaders in free elections.
I have also seen the cell phones, the video players, the fax machines carrying ideas, information and images from all over the world. I've heard people speak their minds and I have joined people in prayer in the faith of my own choosing. In all these ways I felt a steady breeze of freedom.
The question is, where do we go from here? How do we work together to be on the right side of history together? More than 50 years ago, Hu Shi, one of your great political thinkers and a teacher at this university, said these words: "Now some people say to me you must sacrifice your individual freedom so that the nation may be free. But I reply, the struggle for individual freedom is the struggle for the nation's freedom. The struggle for your own character is the struggle for the nation's character."
We Americans believe Hu Shi was right. We believe and our experience demonstrates that freedom strengthens stability and helps nations to change.
One of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, once said, "Our critics are our friends, for they show us our faults." Now, if that is true, there are many days in the United States when the President has more friends than anyone else in America. But it is so.
In the world we live in, this global information age, constant improvement and change is necessary to economic opportunity and to national strength. Therefore, the freest possible flow of information, ideas, and opinions, and a greater respect for divergent political and religious convictions will actually breed strength and stability going forward.
It is, therefore, profoundly in your interest, and the world's, that young Chinese minds be free to reach the fullness of their potential. That is the message of our time and the mandate of the new century and the new millennium.
I hope China will more fully embrace this mandate. For all the grandeur of your history, I believe your greatest days are still ahead. Against great odds in the 20th century China has not only survived, it is moving forward dramatically.
Other ancient cultures failed because they failed to change. China has constantly proven the capacity to change and grow. Now, you must re-imagine China again for a new century, and your generation must be at the heart of China's regeneration.
The new century is upon us. All our sights are turned toward the future. Now your country has known more millennia than the United States has known centuries. Today, however, China is as young as any nation on Earth. This new century can be the dawn of a new China, proud of your ancient greatness, proud of what you are doing, prouder still of the tomorrows to come. It can be a time when the world again looks to China for the vigor of its culture, the freshness of its thinking, the elevation of human dignity that is apparent in its works. It can be a time when the oldest of nations helps to make a new world.
The United States wants to work with you to make that time a reality.
Thank you very much.
1998年6月29日
謝謝。陳校長、任書記、遲副校長、韋副部長,謝謝你們。今天,我很高興率領(lǐng)一個龐大的美國代表團(tuán)來到這里,代表團(tuán)中包括第一夫人和我們的女兒,她是斯坦福大學(xué)的學(xué)生,斯坦福大學(xué)是和北大具有交流關(guān)系的學(xué)校之一。
此外,我們的代表團(tuán)中還包括六位美國國會議員、國務(wù)卿、商務(wù)部長、農(nóng)業(yè)部長、經(jīng)濟(jì)顧問理事會理事長、我國駐華大使參議員尚慕杰、國家安全顧問和我的辦公廳主任等。我提到這些人是為了說明美國極為重視對華關(guān)系。
在北大百年校慶之際,我首先要向北大全體師生員工、管理人員祝賀。恭喜了,北大!
眾所周知,這所學(xué)校的原身是美國傳教士建立的燕京大學(xué)。學(xué)校許多美麗的建筑物是由美國建筑師設(shè)計的。成千上萬的美國學(xué)生和教授來到北大求學(xué)和教學(xué)。因此,我們對你們有一種特殊的親近感。
我很慶幸今天和79年前的一個重要的日子大不相同。1919年6月,就在這里,燕京大學(xué)首任校長司徒雷登準(zhǔn)備發(fā)表第一個畢業(yè)典禮致辭。他準(zhǔn)時出場,但是沒有一個學(xué)生到來。學(xué)生們?yōu)榱苏衽d中國的政治文化,全部走上街頭領(lǐng)導(dǎo)“五四”運(yùn)動去了。我讀到這個故事后,希望今天當(dāng)我走進(jìn)這個禮堂時,會有人坐在這里。非常感謝大家前來聽我演講。
一百年以來,北大已經(jīng)發(fā)展到兩萬多名學(xué)生。貴校的畢業(yè)生遍及中國和全世界。貴校建成了亞洲最大的大學(xué)圖書館。去年貴校有20%的畢業(yè)生去國外留學(xué)深造,其中包括一半的數(shù)理專業(yè)學(xué)生。
在北大百年校慶之際,中國、亞洲和全世界有一百多萬人訪問貴校的網(wǎng)址。在新世紀(jì)黎明之際,北大正在率領(lǐng)中國奔向未來。
你們是中國下一代的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者。我今天要跟你們講的是,建立中美兩國牢固的伙伴關(guān)系,對于你們的未來至關(guān)重要。
在幾千年的歷史長河中,中國為人類文化、宗教、哲學(xué)、藝術(shù)和科技做出了貢獻(xiàn),美國人民深深地欽佩你們。我們銘記著第二次世界大戰(zhàn)期間兩國的牢固伙伴關(guān)系?,F(xiàn)在我們看到,中國處于歷史性時刻,能和你們光輝燦爛的過去相提并論的,只有貴國目前氣勢磅礴的改革和更加美好的未來。
僅僅在30年前,中國還與世界隔絕?,F(xiàn)在,中國參加了從航空旅行到農(nóng)業(yè)開發(fā)等領(lǐng)域的一千多個國際組織。貴國為大規(guī)模貿(mào)易和投資敞開了大門。今天有四萬多名年輕的中國學(xué)生在美國留學(xué),還有數(shù)十萬中國學(xué)生在亞洲、非洲、歐洲和拉美國家留學(xué)。
貴國在社會和經(jīng)濟(jì)領(lǐng)域的變革更為顯著,從一個封閉的指令性經(jīng)濟(jì)體制向一個日顯生機(jī)、日趨注重市場性的經(jīng)濟(jì)轉(zhuǎn)變,產(chǎn)生了連續(xù)20年史無前例的增長,賦予人民更大的自由,到國內(nèi)外旅游,進(jìn)行村委會選舉,擁有住房,選擇職業(yè)以及上更好學(xué)校。
因此,貴國幫助千百萬的民眾擺脫了貧困。在過去的十年中,人均收入翻了一番以上。大多數(shù)中國人民過上了20年前還難以想象的美好生活。
當(dāng)然,這些變化也打亂了固有的生活和工作格局,給貴國的環(huán)境造成了巨大壓力。
以前,每個城市居民到國有企業(yè)就業(yè)都有保障?,F(xiàn)在,你們必須到就業(yè)市場上去競爭。以前,每個中國工人只需滿足北京中央計劃人員的要求,現(xiàn)在,全球性經(jīng)濟(jì)意味著人人必須跟上世界其他地區(qū)的質(zhì)量和創(chuàng)造力。對于缺乏應(yīng)有的訓(xùn)練、熟練的技能和社會幫扶的人們來說,這個新世界的確令人生畏。
在短期內(nèi),一些誠實(shí)勤勞的人們成為失業(yè)者。正如你們所見,過去20年的開發(fā)模式和能源使用模式,造成了空氣污染、濫伐森林、酸雨和缺水,在環(huán)境、經(jīng)濟(jì)和醫(yī)療保健方面付出了巨大代價。
面對這些挑戰(zhàn),必須制定出培訓(xùn)和社會保障的新體系,推出保護(hù)環(huán)境的新政策和新技術(shù),以便在促進(jìn)經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的同時改進(jìn)環(huán)境。
我對中國人民的智慧、獨(dú)創(chuàng)性和開發(fā)精神的了解,以及過去幾天我與江主席、朱總理及其他人會談中的所見所聞,給了我信心,相信你們一定能成功。
在你們建設(shè)新中國的同時,美國希望同你們建立新關(guān)系。我們要看到一個成就非凡、安全開放的中國,和我們攜手為一個和平繁榮的世界而努力。我知道無論在中國還是在美國,都有人懷疑兩國之間的緊密關(guān)系是否是好事。但是世界在變化,我們面臨著種種挑戰(zhàn),我們了解的這一切告訴我們,我們兩國攜手合作比分道揚(yáng)鑣要有利得多。
已故的鄧小平告誡我們要實(shí)事求是。新世紀(jì)來臨之際,事實(shí)顯而易見。我們兩國間的距離在縮短,實(shí)際上是所有國家間的距離在縮短。以前,美國的快速帆船開到中國需要幾個月。今天,高科技使我們天涯若比鄰。
從筆記本電腦到激光技術(shù)、從微芯片到兆字節(jié)儲存器,信息革命正在照亮人類的知識領(lǐng)域,將我們更緊密地聯(lián)結(jié)起來。人們只要敲一下電腦鍵盤,觀念、信息和資金就能跨越全球,為人們創(chuàng)造財富、預(yù)防和征服疾病、加深具有不同歷史和文化背景人民之間的了解,從而給人們帶來了極大的機(jī)遇。
但我們也知道,更大的開放和更快的變革也意味著別國產(chǎn)生的問題會很快蔓延到本國境內(nèi),如大規(guī)模毀滅性武器的擴(kuò)散、有組織的犯罪和販賣毒品的威脅、環(huán)境的惡化和嚴(yán)重的經(jīng)濟(jì)混亂等問題。沒有哪個國家能避免這些問題,沒有那個國家能獨(dú)自解決這些問題。
我們,特別是中美兩國的年輕一代必須以迎接這些共同的挑戰(zhàn)為共同的事業(yè),共創(chuàng)一個光輝燦爛的新世紀(jì)。
21世紀(jì)是你們的世紀(jì)。中美兩國將面臨亞洲安全的挑戰(zhàn)。我們兩國曾在朝鮮半島為敵,現(xiàn)在我們攜手合作,為一個永久和平和無核武器的未來而努力。
世界各國正在擺脫核威脅,而在印度次大陸,印度和巴基斯坦卻甘冒挑起新一輪軍備競賽的風(fēng)險。我們正在謀求一個共同的策略,以使印巴兩國停止進(jìn)一步的核試驗,并為解決分歧進(jìn)行對話。
在21世紀(jì),你們年輕一代必須承擔(dān)制止更加致命的核武器、化學(xué)武器和生物武器擴(kuò)散的重任。如果這種武器落入壞人之手或流入不適當(dāng)?shù)膱鏊?,無論大小國家其安全都會受到威脅。中美兩國日益認(rèn)識到制止這類武器擴(kuò)散的重要性,因此我們已開始齊心協(xié)力,控制世界上最危險的武器。
在21世紀(jì),你們年輕一代一定要扭轉(zhuǎn)犯罪和毒品的國際逆流。全世界有組織的犯罪分子每年從人民手中搶走的財產(chǎn)達(dá)數(shù)十億美元,破壞了人們對政府的信任。美國人民深知毒品給學(xué)校師生和社區(qū)居民帶來的毀滅和絕望。中國的邊境和十幾個國家相鄰,已成了各種走私分子的通道。
去年,我和江主席請求中美雙方的高級執(zhí)法官員加強(qiáng)合作,打擊這些犯罪分子,防止洗錢,防止在殘酷條件下偷運(yùn)外國人,防止偽幣破壞貨幣的信用。就在本月,我們的緝毒署在北京開設(shè)了辦事處。不久,中國的緝毒專家也將在華盛頓開展工作。
在21世紀(jì),你們年輕一代的使命是必須保證今天的發(fā)展進(jìn)步不以明天為代價。中國過去二十年來的快速增長以遭受毒害為代價,即貴國人民的飲用水和呼吸的空氣都已遭受污染。這種代價不僅僅體現(xiàn)在環(huán)境方面,對人民的健康也造成了嚴(yán)重的危害,而且還會阻礙經(jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展。
環(huán)境問題正在變得日趨全球化和全國化。例如,在不久的將來,如果目前的能源使用模式不改變,中國將超過美國成為世界最大的溫室氣體的排放國。溫室氣體是全球性升溫的主要原因。如果世界各國不減少排放造成全球性升溫的氣體,下世紀(jì)的某個時候就會出現(xiàn)氣候急劇變化的嚴(yán)重威脅,這將改變我們的生活和工作方式。某些島國將會被大水淹沒,某些國家的經(jīng)濟(jì)社會結(jié)構(gòu)將會遭到破壞。
我們必須大力合作。經(jīng)驗告訴我們,美國可以在促使經(jīng)濟(jì)成長的同時保護(hù)環(huán)境。為了我們自己也為了世界,我們必須做到這一點(diǎn)。
我國副總統(tǒng)戈爾已同中國政府合作開展了不少工作。在此基礎(chǔ)上,我和江主席正在一起探討方法,在中國推出美國的清潔能源技術(shù),在促進(jìn)中國經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展的同時提高中國的大氣質(zhì)量。
但我還要重申,這話不在我的講稿上,在這一點(diǎn)上你們這一代還要有更多的作為。這對你們、對美國人民和世界的未來都是一個巨大的挑戰(zhàn)。這個問題必須在大學(xué)里提出,因為如果政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人認(rèn)為采取環(huán)保措施會導(dǎo)致大規(guī)模的失業(yè)或嚴(yán)重的貧困,他們將不愿意這樣做。事實(shí)證明環(huán)保不會造成失業(yè)和貧困。如果我們的方法得當(dāng),人們將取得更快的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長,擁有薪水更高的工作,促進(jìn)教育和科技向更高水平發(fā)展。但是,你們這些大學(xué)生和你們的大學(xué),中美兩國以及全世界的人民都必須帶這個頭。
在21世紀(jì),你們必須承擔(dān)不分國界的國際金融系統(tǒng)的重任。當(dāng)香港和雅加達(dá)的股票市場下跌時,其影響再也不是局部的,而是全球性的。因此,貴國充滿生機(jī)的經(jīng)濟(jì)成長同整個亞太地區(qū)恢復(fù)穩(wěn)定和經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展緊密相連。
在最近一次的金融危機(jī)中,中國堅定不移地承擔(dān)了對本地區(qū)和全世界的責(zé)任,幫助避免了又一個危險的貨幣貶值周期。我們必須繼續(xù)攜手合作,應(yīng)對全球金融系統(tǒng)面臨的威脅以及對整個亞太地區(qū)的發(fā)展和繁榮所造成的威脅。
在21世紀(jì),你們這一代將有極大的機(jī)會,將科學(xué)家、醫(yī)生、工程師的各種才能結(jié)合起來,用于追求共同的發(fā)展。我們早就在一些合作的領(lǐng)域中取得了突破,包括從醫(yī)治脊柱對裂到預(yù)報惡劣天氣和地震等。這些突破證明,只要我們合作就能改變中美乃至全世界數(shù)以百萬計人的生活。擴(kuò)大我們在科技領(lǐng)域的合作是我們給未來奉獻(xiàn)的厚禮之一。
在我以上列舉的每一個關(guān)鍵領(lǐng)域,顯然,只要我們相互合作而不是互不往來,我們就能取得更大的成就。因此,我們應(yīng)該努力,確保目前雙方之間的建設(shè)性關(guān)系在下個世紀(jì)結(jié)出圓滿的協(xié)作果實(shí)。
要做到這一點(diǎn),我們就必須更好地相互了解,了解各自的共同利益、共有的期望和真誠的分歧。我相信大家在電視上看到我和江主席星期六在聯(lián)合記者招待會上公開直接的交流,這有助于澄清和縮小我們的分歧。更為重要的是,允許人們理解、辯論和探討這些問題,使他們對我們建設(shè)美好的未來更加充滿信心。
從我居住的華盛頓特區(qū)白宮的窗口向外眺望,我們第一任總統(tǒng)喬治·華盛頓的紀(jì)念碑俯視全城。那是一座高聳的方形尖塔。在這個龐大的紀(jì)念碑旁,有一塊很小的石碑,上面刻著的碑文是:“美國決不設(shè)置貴族和皇室頭銜,也不建立世襲制度。國家事務(wù)由輿論公決。”
美國建立了一個從古至今史無前例的嶄新政治體系。這是最奇妙的事物。這些話并不是美國人寫的,而是出自福建省巡撫徐繼玉之手,并于1853年由中國政府刻成碑文,作為禮物送給美國。
我很感激中國送的這份禮物,它道出了我們?nèi)w美國人民的心聲。即人人有生命和自由的權(quán)利、追求幸福的權(quán)利,有不受國家干涉,言論和持不同政見的自由,結(jié)社的自由和宗教信仰的自由。這些就是220年前美國立國的核心理想。這些理想指引我們跨越美洲大陸,走向世界舞臺。這些仍然是美國人民今天珍視的理想。
正如我和江主席在舉行的記者招待會上所說,我們美國人民正在不斷尋求實(shí)現(xiàn)這些理想。美國憲法的制定者知道,我們不可能做到盡善盡美。他們說,美國的使命始終是要“建設(shè)一個更為完美的聯(lián)邦”。換言之,我們永遠(yuǎn)不可能盡善盡美,但我們必須不斷改進(jìn)。
每當(dāng)我們放棄不斷改進(jìn)的努力,每當(dāng)我們由于種族或宗教原因,由于是新移民,或者由于有人持不受歡迎的意見,而剝奪我們?nèi)嗣竦淖杂桑覀兊臍v史就出現(xiàn)最黑暗的時刻。每當(dāng)我們保護(hù)持不受歡迎的意見者的自由,或者將大多數(shù)人享受的權(quán)利給予以前被剝奪權(quán)利的人們,從而實(shí)踐《獨(dú)立宣言》和《憲法》的諾言,而不是使其成為一紙空文,我們的歷史就出現(xiàn)最光明的時刻。
今天,我們沒有謀求將自己的見解強(qiáng)加于人,但我們深信某種權(quán)利具有普遍性,它們不是美國的權(quán)利或者歐洲的權(quán)利或者是發(fā)達(dá)國家的權(quán)利,而是所有的人們與生俱來的權(quán)利。這些權(quán)利現(xiàn)在載于《聯(lián)合國人權(quán)宣言》。這些就是待人以尊嚴(yán)、各抒己見、選舉領(lǐng)袖、自由結(jié)社、自由選擇信教或不信教的權(quán)利。
《獨(dú)立宣言》的作者、我國第三任總統(tǒng)托馬斯·杰克遜在他一生的最后一封信中寫道:“人們正在睜開眼睛關(guān)注人權(quán)。”在杰克遜寫了這句話的172年之后,我相信現(xiàn)在人們終于睜開眼睛關(guān)注世界各地男女應(yīng)享受的人權(quán)。
過去20年以來,一個高漲的自由浪潮解放了成千上百萬的生靈,掃除了前蘇聯(lián)和中歐那種失敗的獨(dú)裁統(tǒng)治,結(jié)束了拉美國家軍事政變和內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的惡性循環(huán),使更多的非洲人民有機(jī)會享受來之不易的獨(dú)立。從菲律賓到南朝鮮,從泰國到蒙古,自由之浪已沖到亞洲的海岸,給發(fā)展和生產(chǎn)力注入了動力。
經(jīng)濟(jì)保障也應(yīng)該是自由的要素,這在《聯(lián)合國經(jīng)濟(jì)社會文化權(quán)益公約》中獲得承認(rèn)。在中國你們?yōu)榕嘤@種自由已邁出了大步,保證不遭受匱乏,并成為貴國人民的力量源泉。
中國人的收入提高了,貧困現(xiàn)象減輕了。人們有了更多的選擇就業(yè)的機(jī)會和外出旅游的機(jī)會,有了創(chuàng)造更好生活的機(jī)會。但真正的自由不僅僅是經(jīng)濟(jì)的自由。我們美國人民認(rèn)為這是一個不可分割的概念。
在過去的四天中,我在中國看到了自由的許多表現(xiàn)形式。我在貴國內(nèi)地的一個村莊看到民主的萌芽正在迸發(fā)。我訪問了一個自由選舉村委領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的村莊。
我也看到了手機(jī)、錄像機(jī)和帶來全世界觀念、信息和圖像的傳真機(jī)。我聽到人們抒發(fā)自己的想法,我還同當(dāng)?shù)氐娜藗円黄馂槲疫x擇的宗教信仰祈禱。在所有這些方面,我感覺到自由的微風(fēng)在吹拂。
但人們不禁要問,我們的發(fā)展方向是什么?我們怎樣相互合作走上歷史正確的一面?貴校偉大的政治思想家之一胡適教授在五十多年前說過:“有些人對我說,為了國家的自由你必須犧牲自己的個人自由。但我回答,為了個人自由而奮斗就是為了國家的自由而奮斗。為了個性而奮斗就是為了國民性而奮斗。”
我們美國人認(rèn)為胡適是對的。我們相信并且我們的經(jīng)驗表明,自由加強(qiáng)穩(wěn)定,自由有助于國家的變革。
我國的一位開國先賢本杰明·富蘭克林曾經(jīng)說過:“我們的批評者是我們的朋友,因為他們指出我們的缺點(diǎn)。”如果這句話是正確的,那么在美國,很多時候總統(tǒng)的朋友比其他任何人都多。而且確實(shí)如此。
在我們生活的世界,全球性的信息時代,不斷的改進(jìn)和變革是增加經(jīng)濟(jì)機(jī)會和國力的必要條件。因此,讓信息、觀念和看法最自由地流通,更多地尊重不同的政治和宗教信仰,實(shí)際上將增加實(shí)力,推動穩(wěn)定。
因此,為了貴國和世界的根本利益,中國的年輕人必須享有心靈上的自由,以便充分地開發(fā)自己的潛力。這是我們時代的信念,也是新世紀(jì)和新千年的要求。
我希望中國能更充分地贊同這個要求。盡管貴國歷史上有過輝煌的功績,我認(rèn)為貴國最偉大的時光仍在前方。中國不僅歷經(jīng)20世紀(jì)的種種艱難險阻生存了下來,而且正在迅速向前邁進(jìn)。
其他的古老文化消亡了,因為他們沒有進(jìn)行變革。中國始終顯示出變革和成長的能力。你們必須重新想象新世紀(jì)的中國,你們這一代必然處于中國復(fù)興的中心。
我們即將進(jìn)入新世紀(jì),我們將所有的目光瞄向未來。貴國以千年計算歷史,美國以百年計算歷史,貴國的歷史更加悠久。然而,今天的中國和任何一個國家一樣年輕。新世紀(jì)將是新中國的黎明,貴國為其在歷史上的偉大成就而自豪,為你們進(jìn)行的事業(yè)而自豪,為明天的到來而更加自豪。在新世紀(jì)中,世界可能再次轉(zhuǎn)向中國尋求其文化的活力、思想的新穎、人類尊嚴(yán)的升華,這在中國的成就中已顯而易見。在新世紀(jì)中,最古老的國家可以幫助建設(shè)一個新的世界。
美國希望與貴國合作,使那個時刻成為現(xiàn)實(shí)。
感謝大家。
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