 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Reagan. Mr. President and Mrs. Reagan, I think you probably know by now you have won heck of a great place. And now I'd like to introduce a gentleman who will say a few words and will introduce our President, the Honorable Senator for Alaska, Frank Murkowski. Isn't this great? Mr. President, Mrs. Reagan, welcome home. Your trip to the People's Republic of China has been a grand success and obviously is a major step in your efforts to establish peace throughout the world. And Alaska is truly honored to be hosting two of the world's most prominent leaders, Pope John Paul II and the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. The focus of world attention will be on Fairbanks, Alaska, and their historic meeting which will take place tomorrow of the United States of America. Mr. President. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much and thank you very much, Frank. Let me just say I'm proud of Alaska's congressional delegation and grateful for their help and support and for the way they represent their state in Washington. And on behalf of Nancy and myself and from the bottom of our hearts, thank you all for your very warm welcome. It's been a fascinating and rewarding 10 days and now our long journey is nearly over. I was interested to read one report on whether the meetings were a success or not this morning. It seems the TASS, the Russian news agency, says that I was a failure at trying to eat a pigeon egg with my chopsticks. And as usual, TASS was wrong. It wasn't a pigeon egg, it was a quail egg and I got it on the second stab. But we traveled almost 20,000 miles to Hawaii, Guam, and finally China, to the cities of Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai. We saw the wonders of that country and the fine antiquities of the old civilization. But I think the best moment was late last night or I should say early this morning. Now I had it all in mind that I was going to talk about coming through the darkness and then finally seeing the lights of the coast of Alaska down below, the coastline there and that we knew that we were seeing America again and we were home. Well, there was a cloud cover all the way over the Pacific Ocean. So the lights that we saw were the lights of Fairbanks and believe me, we knew we were home and it was just fine. There's a poem that was popular when I was a boy. It was a poem about the American soldiers returning from the trenches in the First World War. They admired the grandeur and the oldness of Europe, but their hearts longed for the newness of their own country. And upon their return in that poem they said, So it's home again and home again America for me. My heart is turning home again and there I long to be. The blessed land of room enough beyond the ocean bars where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars. Well, it's good to be back in our blessed land. We went to China to advance the prospects for stability and peace throughout the world. And we went to illustrate by our presence our sincere desire for good relations. We went to meet again with the Chinese and review our concerns and our differences. And we went to China to further divine our own two countries relationship and by defining it advance it. And I feel that we have progress to report. I had long and thoughtful meetings with the Chinese leadership comprehensive meetings. We each listened carefully to what the other had to say. We discussed and agreed to cooperate more closely in the areas of trade, investment, technology, and exchanges of scientific and managerial expertise. We concluded an important agreement on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. We agreed that in this imperfect world peace in its most perfect form cannot always be reached. But it must always be our goal. And we, the people of China and the United States, must make our best efforts to bring greater harmony between our two countries. It's a good thing for the world when those who are not allies remain open to each other. And it's good to remember that competitors sometimes have mutual interests and those interests can make them friends. I told the Chinese leaders, as I told the students at Shanghai University yesterday, that we must continue to acknowledge our differences for a friendship based on fiction will not long understand or withstand the rigors of the world. But we agreed that there is much to be gained from mutual respect. And there's much to be gained on both sides from expanded opportunities in trade and commerce and cultural relations. I was heartened by some of the things that we saw. The Chinese have begun opening up their economy, allowing more farmers and workers to keep and sell on their own some of the fruits of their labor. The first injection of free market spirit has already enlivened the Chinese economy. I believe it has also made a contribution to human happiness in China and opened the way to a more just society. Yesterday before we left, we sat in a Chinese home at one of the now called townships. They were once called communes, the farm communes where they raised the foodstuffs for all of China. But now there is a difference. They owe a portion of what they produce to the government, but then over and above that they can produce on their own and sell in a free marketplace. And in this home it was most interesting, this young couple, their little son, his mother and father living with them. And he was telling us all the things. And he built that home himself. And a very fine job it was. And then told us how they're saving and what they're saving to buy next. It could have been in any home in America talking about the problems of making ends meet and that they were saving for this or that for their future. And I was also impressed not only by them but by all of the Chinese that we met by their curiosity about us. Many of the Chinese people still don't understand how our democracy works or what impels us as a people. So I did something unusual. I tried to explain what America is and who we are to explain to them our faith in God and our love and our true love for freedom. They'll never understand us until they understand that. It was a breathtaking experience and in some ways I think a groundbreaking experience. But for us now it's very fitting that we return home here to Alaska the only one of our states that is equidistant to Asia and Washington, a westward facing state and a state may I say from which we've received strong support. When I was in Beijing I explained to the Chinese that our attempt to build up our defenses after more than a decade of almost constant neglect is an attempt to preserve the peace and preserve freedom in the world. No one has helped us more in our efforts to rebuild our strength than the members of your Alaskan congressional delegation and I thank them as always for their efforts and their good sense. It's been good to talk to you and to see you and to be welcomed by you. Every time I come to Alaska I think of Robert's service and I always threaten to recite the shooting of Dan McGrew which I can do believe it or not. But I won't subject you to it or those tired and bedraggled persons over there, my friends in the press. They've been working very hard the past 10 days to bring you at home the look and sound of China and they're tired so we'd like to give them a chance to rest. Maybe at the next press conference I'll recite it. But it's wonderful to be here and I thank you again for your very warm greetings. We'll take them with us tomorrow when we meet here in Fairbax with a great man of peace Pope John Paul II who is also on his way to Asia to South Korea. His continuing mission of peace is a service to all of humanity and I look forward to seeing and having a few moments with him again as we had once before in Rome. But again God bless you all it's just wonderful to be here to see you all again and all I can say as far as Nancy and I can say we'll be back. Mr. President and Mrs. Reagan I'm sure you are aware of what a great honor it is for us as a community to have you pay a visit to us. And we have a few small presentations we'd like to make to you and to Mrs. Reagan. Mrs. Reagan would you maybe join us over here please. Hang on kids. Would everyone please stand and let's all join in singing the Alaska Flag Song.