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Taiwan can enter WTO as "customs territory" : China |
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September 16, 2000
WASHINGTON, SEPT 15 (AP) - A senior Chinese official insisted Thursday that Taiwan can join the World Trade Organization only as a "customs territory of China," wording the United States has rejected. Zeng Jianhui, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the National Peoples Congress, also said he hoped the U.S. Senate would pass legislation soon giving China permanent normal trading relations. More than 70 senators are expected to vote for the bill, possibly next week. Asked about terms of accession for Taiwan to join the 135-nation trade organization, Zeng said, " When China joins the WTO, Taiwan as a separate customs territory of China can join afterward." Last week President Clinton said in a letter to Sen. John Kyl the United States would not accept using the customs territory label. "We have advised the Chinese that such language is inappropriate...and we will not accept it," Clinton's letter said. Kyl has criticized a Beijing proposal that the document setting out terms for membership in the WTO make it clear that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau all are part of China, in effect using the WTO to assert its disputed claim to Taiwan. Under an agreement signed in 1992, once China joins the WTO, Taiwan would immediately follow. Hong Kong is already a member as it is treated as a separate customs territory. Zeng, who headed a seven member parliamentary delegation that met with 20 U.S. lawmakers this week, said they touched upon the China trade bill in their discussions. "We hope to see this issue resolved at an early date because it will help bring about better trade and overall economic relations" between the two countries, Zeng said. Another member of the delegation, Yu Enguang, said Clinton made a wise decision to defer deploying a national missile defense system. The reasons the United States advanced for such a system are "groundless," Yu said, and have been ever since they were first put forward under President Ronald Reagan. Along with Europe and other countries, Yu said, "We hope we can put an end once and for all to this plan because if the United States deploys it will start another arms race." Yu, a former Washington correspondent for the Chinese news agency Xinhua, also described as a farce the case involving former Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee who was accused of mishandling nuclear secrets. He said he agreed with many Asian-Americans who felt Lee was singled out for prosecution by the government because of his Chinese ancestry. |