Honzo November 16th, 2005

“We encourage China to continue down the road of reform
and openness,” Bush told an audience that stayed silent until its
polite applause at the end. “By meeting the legitimate demands of its
citizens for freedom and openness, China’s leaders can help their
country grow into a modern, prosperous, and confident nation.”

His challenge to Beijing immediately followed lavish praise of Taiwan.

“By embracing freedom at all levels, Taiwan has delivered prosperity
to its people and created a free and democratic Chinese society,” Bush
said. Pointing to Taiwan as well as South Korea Bush said political
freedoms are the inevitable product of the kind of economic
liberalization China has begun pursuing.

“Men and women who are allowed to control their own wealth will
eventually insist on controlling their own lives and their own future,”
he said. “As China reforms its economy, its leaders are finding that
once the door to freedom is opened even a crack, it cannot be closed.”

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