Speeches & Testimony

MAHALO!

TO OUR HONORED GUESTS AND MY FELLOW ‘OHANA FROM OUR WONDERFUL HAWAII, GOOD EVENING AND WAN-AN.

AND TO PRESIDENT LAI, A VERY WARM ALOHA AND HUAN-YING!

MR PRESIDENT, WE ARE TRULY HONORED THAT YOU WOULD CHOOSE TO BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY THROUGH OUR PACIFIC FAMILY HERE IN HAWAII, WHERE WE ALSO ARE FROM AND OF THE INDO-PACIFIC.

TONIGHT THE EVENING IS BEAUTIFUL, THE TRADE WINDS BRING THE BEST OF EARLY WINTER WEATHER, THE SPIRIT OF ALOHA IS UPON US.

BUT WE ARE IN SERIOUS TIMES BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT WE LIVE IN A DIFFICULT WORLD.

THE POST-WORLD WAR II INTERNATIONAL RULES BASED ORDER, FOR WHICH MILLIONS INCLUDING OUR OWN DIED, AND WHICH, DESPITE ITS FLAWS, HAS LED TO ONE OF THE MOST PEACEFUL AND PROSPEROUS PERIODS IN HUMAN HISTORY, IS UNDER SIEGE.

ONE OF ITS HALLMARKS, A FREE AND OPEN INDO-PACIFIC, ESPECIALLY CRITICAL TO ISLAND STATES LIKE OURS, IS AT RISK.

IT IS IN SUCH TIMES THAT ENDURING PARTNERSHIP, BUILT AND SUSTAINED IN LESS CHALLENGING TIMES, ARE CRITICAL.

FOR IN TODAY’S WORLD NO STATE CAN GO IT ALONE.

SUCH PARTNERSHIPS ARE NOT TRANSITORY OR TRANSACTIONAL, DEPENDING ONLY ON THE NEEDS OF THE MOMENT, DESTINED TO BE DISCARDED AS SOON AS NO LONGER USEFUL.

THEY INSTEAD ENDURE ON SHARED VALUES AND INTERESTS TO ADVANCE MUTUAL GOALS AND MEET SHARED CHALLENGES.

AND THEY ARE BUILT ON TRUST.

ALL OF THESE, MR. PRESIDENT, DESCRIBE TODAY’S AND TOMORROW’S TIES BETWEEN OUR COUNTRY AND HAWAII AND TAIWAN.

FROM VIBRANT DEMOCRACIES, TO MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL ECONOMIC EXCHANGE, TO THE CHALLENGES OF AGGRESSION AND CLIMATE CHANGE AND MORE.

AND, ESPECIALLY TRUE HERE IN OUR HAWAII, TO A COMMON HERITAGE, ROOTED NOT ONLY IN THE SHARED IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE OF CENTURIES, INCLUDING THE SIX TO TWELVE THOUSAND OF OUR OWN WHO TRACE THEIR OWN HERITAGE TO TAIWAN. 

BUT ALSO, AS YOU KNOW, TO THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF TAIWAN, FROM WHOM MANY OF THE PEOPLES OF THE PACIFIC INCLUDING OUR OWN NATIVE HAWAIIANS TRACE THEIR ANCIENT ORIGINS.

WE CAN, WE MUST AND WE WILL TRUST EACH OTHER WITH OUR SHARED PRESENT AND FUTURE.

SO MR. PRESIDENT, AS YOU CONTINUE YOUR JOURNEY, PLEASE GIVE OUR ALOHA TO OUR PACIFIC ‘OHANA, OUR FAMILY.

WHEN YOU RETURN HOME, PLEASE TELL YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS THAT HERE IN HAWAII YOU FOUND THEIR AIKANE, THEIR SPECIAL FRIENDS.

AND PLEASE KNOW THAT YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME HERE.

ALOHA, MAHALO AND XIEXIE!