Download Transcript
The Economic Club of New York _________________________________________ His Excellency James C.H. Shen Republic of China, Ambassador to the United States of America John D. deButts Chairman and Chief Executive Officer American Telephone and Telegraph Company _________________________________________ November 14, 1972 Waldorf-Astoria New York City The Economic Club of New York - James C.H. Shen & John D. deButts - Nov. 14, 1972 1 Introduction Chairman George R. Vila Hank will address his questions to Mr. DeButts. Now our questioners act under Department of Justice rules and there is no collusion. (Laughter) Our first speaker, “The pulse of modern life is economic and the fundamental principle of economic production is individual independence.” This statement was made in 1916 by Chen Duxiu, a founder of the Chinese Communist Party. Now we’re not too surprised to find that in 1972, some 56 years later, the pulse of modern life is not beating very strongly on the Communist-controlled mainland of China, but is strong and loud on an island adjacent to it with an area of less than 14,000 square miles and a population of 15 million independent individuals. We’re amazed, however, to find that the island province of Taiwan, home of the Republic of China, will make over $5 billion of foreign trade business this year, a bigger volume than that generated by the economic activity of 700 million people on the Chinese mainland. Clearly, as a partner in trade and investment as well as competitor on world markets, Taiwan has never been more important to us than it is today.
[Show full text]