Remarks and a question-and-answer session with students at Beijing University in Beijing, China: June 29, 1998

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, July 6, 1998

Thank you. [Applause]

U.S. Domestic Human Rights Issues

Q. Mr. President, with regard to the question of democracy, human rights, and freedom, actually this is an issue of great interest .to both the Chinese and American peoples. But to be honest, our two countries have some differences over these issues. In your address just now you made a very proud review and retrospection of the history of the American democracy in human rights. And you have also made some suggestions for China. Of course, for the sincere suggestions, we welcome. But I think I recall one saying, that is we should have both criticism and self-criticism.

So now I'd like to ask you a question. Do you think that in the United States today, there are also some problems in the area of democracy, freedom, and human rights, and what your Government has done in improving the situation?

The President. I do, and first of all, let me say, I never raise this question overseas in any country, not just China, without acknowledging first, that our country has had terrible problems in this area - keep in mind, slavery was legal in America for many years - and that we are still not perfect. I always say that, because I don't think it's right for any person to claim that he or she lives in a perfect country. We're all struggling toward ideals to live a better life. So I agree with the general point you made.

Now, I will give you two examples. We still have some instances of discrimination in America, in housing or employment or other areas based on race. And we have a system set up to deal with it, but we have not totally eliminated it. And in the last year, I have been engaging the American people in a conversation on this subject, and we have tried to identify the things that Government should do, the things that the American people should do either through the local government or through other organizations, and the attitudes that should change the minds and hearts of the American people. So that's one example.

Now, let me give you another example. We have - when I ran for President in 1992, I was in a hotel in New York City, and an American immigrant from Greece came up to me, and he said, "My son is 10 years old, and he studies the election in school, and he says I should vote for you." But he said, "If I vote for you, I want you to make my son free, because my son is not really free." So I asked this man, '"What do you mean?" And he said, "Well, the crime is so high in my neighborhood, there are so many guns and gangs, that my son does not feel that he - I can't let him walk to school by himself or go across the street to play in the park. So if I vote for you, I want you to make my son free."

I think that's important, because, you see, in America, we tend to view freedom as the freedom from Government abuse or from Government control. That is our heritage. Our Founders came here to escape the monarchy in England. But sometimes freedom requires affirmative steeps by Government to give everyone an equal opportunity to have an education and make a decent living and to preserve a lawful environment. So I work very hard to try to bring the crime rate down in America, and it's now lower than it has been at any time in 25 years, which means that more of our children are free. But the crime rate is still high; there is still too much violence.