Max Baucus

　　United States Ambassador to China

　　Kunming Museum

　　January 28, 2015

　　AMBASSADOR BAUCUS: Thank you so very much Mr.Tian Jian. I deeply appreciate that introduction. I want toalso thank the tour director who gave us a wonderful tourthrough the museum. Bai Hong and Yang Fuquan, VicePresident of the local Academy of Social Science who Ijust met, as well as Lu Tianyun, Director General of theForeign Affairs Office up here at Kunming.

　　Before I go any farther I’d like to introduce my wife,Melodee Hanes. I have a very good time when I’m ingroups introducing Mel and telling everybody this is my“Tai tai, wo de tai, tai.” Sometimes she says maybe theword should be a little bit more formal. That “tai tai” is alittle informal, but I don’t care. She’s my “tai tai.”

　　I wanted to tell you how pleased we are, Mel and I, to behere at Kunming, for many many reasons. One is yourwonderful perfect weather. It is truly heaven. When Inext see President Xi I’m going to suggest he move thenation’s capital from Beijing to Kunming.

　　Now all of you here in Kunming may not like that. Withall the subway construction here, which is delaying traffic,you probably don’t want all these presidential motorcadesin Kunming blocking traffic even further. So I suspectthat you would not be too happy with the nation’s capitalmoving to Kunming.

　　But, thank you so much. It’s so good to be here.

　　This is our first visit, Mel and I. I’m so impressed, as Imentioned. And we like Kunming so much that duringlunch today we were comparing notes and asking eachother, when can we return? We’re thinking of probablyreturning sometime this summer.

　　You might ask, why are we here today at the KunmingMuseum? The answer is very simple. Let me start witha story about an American pilot named Lieutenant RobertH. Mooney. Lieutenant Mooney, as you all know, it’s astory well known here in Kunming, Lieutenant Mooneymade the ultimate sacrifice. He and other Flying Tigerpilots from the United States 14th Air Force wereassigned to protect an airfield in Dali from enemybombers. The airfield was jointly built by U.S. andChinese workers. In the battle to protect the airfield,Lieutenant Mooney shot down at least two enemy planesbefore his plane was damaged in a dogfight near thevillage of Xiangyun. And rather than eject, his plane wasvery damaged, it was clear the plane was going down. But rather than eject and save himself which would meanthat his plane would crash into the village, LieutenantMooney did something else. He steered the plane awayfrom Xiangyun as villagers watched below. But by thetime he finally ejected, you know the story, it was toolate. But by sparing the village, Lieutenant Mooney diedof injuries he suffered when he jumped out of his planebut the parachute didn’t open. He therefore as aconsequence died. He gave his life for the people ofXiangyun village.

　　After his death the people of Xiangyun, many of you here,dedicated a monument to him at the crash site. To thisday many villagers here at Xiangyun tidy up LieutenantMooney’s monument each year on Tomb Sweeping Day. Why? To express their gratitude for his sacrifice.

　　Lieutenant Mooney was just one of 2,590 Americanservice men and women who died in China during theSecond World War. Throughout the war, U.S.combatants in China were touched by the kindness andbravery of their Chinese partners. Brave men andwomen provided assistance and shelter to thousands ofAmerican airmen whose planes were shot down for acause they shared. In fact over at the museum just anhour or so ago we saw many photographs of Chinesehelping give care and assistance to airmen and soldierswho were injured in the war.

　　People from both countries sacrificed greatly. I might saytoo at lunch today I sat next to Mr. Sun Guansheng who Ithink is head of the Flying Tigers Association here inKunming and we shared many stories together. He’s avery perceptive man. I’m deeply impressed with him. And we talked about history, beginning with Sun Yat-Senand Whampoa the development of the academy thattrained soldiers, and Claire Chennault and Stillwell andothers who were here. I just want to complement him. He’s quite a wonderful man.

　　The Second World War has a personal meaning for meand for my wife Mel. We are both children of World WarII veterans. My father served in the U.S. Air Force nothere, but in Europe. Mel’s father was here in China. Hewas a United States pilot. He loved to tell stories of themissions that he flew just north of Shanghai. I’ve heardmany stories about how proud he was to fight alongsidethe Chinese during the war. In fact Mel has a piece ofsilk that he carried with him when he was flying in battleover China. The silk includes a picture of the Americanflag as well as language in Chinese basically saying, “I’man American. I’m here flying to help China against theJapanese. And if you find me please help and assist meand give me care.” It was a silk message he carried withhim in case he was shot down.

　　So it’s clear that Chinese and Americans performedheroic acts of bravery. Both sides sacrificed anddemonstrated just how committed our two countrieswere to helping each other in a moment of need. Bondslike these are lasting. We can’t forget the bravery andsacrifices of men and women on both sides that cametogether for a common cause.

　　Our history here and our partnership in the war fightingfascism is really a foundation for us to build on. Itreminds me very much of the importance of thisrelationship. That is the relationship between China andthe United States. I think it’s the most importantrelationship between any two countries in the world todayand it’s up to us to work hard to make sure we get that,make that right. The only way to do that is to worktogether as we did in critical moments in the past.

　　The cooperation between our two countries is only onepart of the efforts we have to undertake. We have toalso work with others to make sure this world is a betterplace than the one we found. Since our victory overfascism 70 years ago Asia has enjoyed unprecedentedpeace and prosperity. If you pause and think about it justa few minutes, it’s incredible how much Asia has grownand prospered since the end of World War II.

　　The Japan of 1945 is gone. Today’s Japan is ademocracy, a close U.S. ally and a critical economicpartner to both our countries. In fact, steady tiesbetween China and Japan help ensure a stable regionalsecurity environment that enables East Asia to flourish. Healthy relations between China and Japan are good forall.

　　That’s why, frankly, we Americans welcomed the FourPoint Agreement that President Xi and Prime Minister Abereached just this last November, and it’s why weencourage further involvement and the cooperative effortbetween China and Japan. It’s helpful for both countriesand also for the rest of the world.

　　Across the world, countries that once fought against eachother now work together on many of the world’s mostpressing issues. So much more can be accomplishedwhen they work together.

　　The world is growing smaller and many of the threats weface today are becoming more urgent. The clock isticking. We live at a critical moment in history. TodayChina and the United States face great challengestogether on many fronts. North Korea and Iraniannuclear programs, violent extremism, pandemic diseaseslike Ebola, food security, environmental protection andclimate change. These are just a few of the many issueswhere our futures are intertwined, interrelated--the U.S.and China and the rest of the world.

　　I’ve had this job now representing the United States inChina about ten months. I love it. It’s the best job in theworld. But in my one year here, I must tell you just howdeeply heartened I am that our two countries are workingso closely together and I sense becoming even closertogether.

　　First of all, our economic relations are very deep andcontribute to prosperity in both countries. Nearly 11billion RMB worth of goods and services flow between ourcountries every day. Our total annual bilateral tradereached about 3.7 trillion Renminbi in 2013. That’s about700 million iPhones or to say it another way, about fivetimes what it was when China joined the WTO back 13years ago. And there’s more. Members of our militariesare working side by side in Africa to bring Ebola undercontrol and to counter piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

　　It’s really quite encouraging. In many respects it bringsopportunities but it also brings responsibilities. LastNovember I was with President Obama in Beijing, withhim and with President Xi when they made that veryhistoric agreement on carbon emissions. That was anhistoric agreement. Stop and think about it. Our twocountries agreed to limit, actually limit, carbon emissionsby a certain date, setting a precedent for all countriesaround the world to also follow suit and set their owncarbon emission limitation dates so that together allcountries of the world can affect climate change.

　　As you know, the next major step is in Paris later thisyear and if we work very hard together we can lead theworld in making sure that the Paris Conference issuccessful.

　　President Obama and President Xi also made a landmarkannouncement on visas that can help nearly everyone inthis room. They’ve extended the validity of business andtourist visas to ten years, and extended student andexchange visas to five years. We’ve already issued tensof thousands of new visas since that announcement justtwo months ago. That was last year.

　　So I ask you--join me this year at the 70th Anniversary ofthe end of World War II to honor Lieutenant Mooney andall that we have achieved together. Let’s look aheadtogether to address the challenges facing our twocountries and the world. The sacrifices here, here inKunming, showed that when the United States and Chinawork together we can accomplish great things.

　　That work continues. That’s why I’m here with you. Wehave a responsibility to get this relationship between ourtwo countries right. It’s rewarding and it’s also, I mightadd, a lot of fun. So onward, we move together. And Ithank you very much for letting me be here with you. Thank you.