【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 and narrow our differences, and, more important, by allowing people to understand and debate and discuss these things can give a greater sense of confidence to our people that we can make a better the windows of the White House, where I live in Washington, ., the monument to our first President, George Washington, dominates the is a very tall very near this large monument there is a small stone which contains these words: The United States neither established titles of nobility and royalty, nor created a hereditary affairs are put to the vote of public created a new political situation, unprecedented from ancient times to the wonderful it words were not written by an were written by Xu Jiyu, governor of Fujian Province, inscribed as a gift from the government of China to our nation in am very grateful for that gift from goes to the heart of who we are as a peoplethe right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the freedom to debate, to dissent, to associate, to worship without interference from the are the ideals that were at the core of our founding over 220 years are the ideas that led us across our continent and onto the world are the ideals that Americans cherish I said in my press conference with President Jiang, we have an ongoing quest ourselves to live up to those people who framed our Constitution understood that we would never achieve said that the mission of America would always be “to form a more perfect union”in other words, that we would never be perfect, but we had to keep trying to do darkest moments in our history have e when we abandoned the effort to do better, when we denied freedom to our people because of their race or their religion, because there were new immigrants or because they held unpopular best moments in our history have e when we protected the freedom of people who held unpopular opinion, or extended rights enjoyed by the many to the few who had previously been denied them, making, therefore, the promises of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution more than faded words on old we do not seek to impose our vision on others, but we are convinced that certain rights are universalnot American rights or European rights or rights for developed nations, but the birthrights of people everywhere, now enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rightsthe right to be treated with dignity。the right to express one39。s opinions, to choose one39。s own leaders, to associate freely with others, and to worship, or not, freely, however one the last letter of his life, the author of our Declaration of Independence and our third President, Thomas Jefferson, said then that “all eyes are opening to the rights of man.” I believe that in this time, at long last, 172 years after Jefferson wrote those words, all eyes are opening to the rights of men and women the past two decades, a rising tide of freedom has lifted the lives of millions around the world, sweeping away failed dictatorial systems in the Former Soviet Union, throughout Central Europe。ending a vicious cycle of military coups and civil wars in Latin America。giving more people in Africa the chance to make the most of their hardwon from the Philippines to South Korea, from Thailand to Mongolia, freedom has reached Asia39。s shores, powering a surge of growth and security also can be an essential element of is recognized in the United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural China, you have made extraordinary strides in nurturing that liberty, and spreading freedom from want, to be a source of strength to your are up, poverty is down。people do have more choices of jobs, and the ability to travelthe ability to make a better true freedom includes more than economic America, we believe it is a concept which is the past four days, I have seen freedom in many manifestations in have seen the fresh shoots of democracy growing in the villages of your have visited a village that chose its own leaders in free have also seen the cell phones, the video players, the fax machines carrying ideas, information and images from all over the 39。ve heard people speak their minds and I have joined people in prayer in the faith of my own all these ways I felt a steady breeze of question is, where do we go from here? How do we work together to be on the right side of history together? More than 50 years ago, Hu Shi, one of your great political thinkers and a teacher at this university, said these words: “Now some people say to me you must sacrifice your individual freedom so that the nation may be I reply, the struggle for individual freedom is the struggle for the nation39。s struggle for your own character is the struggle for the nation39。s character.”We Americans believe Hu Shi was believe and our experience demonstrates that freedom strengthens stability and helps nations to of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, once said, “Our critics are our friends, for they show us our faults.” Now, if that is true, there are many days in the United States when the President has more friends than anyone else in America.(Laughter.)But it is the world we live in, this global information age, constant improvement and change is necessary to economic opportunity and to national , the freest possible flow of information, ideas, and opinions, and a greater respect for divergent political and religious convictions will actually breed strength and stability going is, therefore, profoundly in your interest, and the world39。s, that young Chinese minds be free to reach the fullness of their is the message of our time and the mandate of the new century and the new hope China will more fully embrace this all the grandeur of your history, I believe your greatest days are still great odds in the 20th century China has not only survived, it is moving forward ancient cultures failed because they failed to has constantly proven the capacity to change and , you must reimagine China