A delegation representing the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei plans to travel to Washington this weekend to lobby for the passage of a bill that will allow permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) between the US and China.
AmCham President Paul Cassingham, who will head the group, said yesterday that passage of PNTR would help facilitate China's entry into the WTO and, subsequently, Taiwan's own bid to join the trade body.
But in light of the delicate state of cross-strait ties since Chen's election, Cassingham stressed the importance of Taiwan entry into the WTO coming immediately after China.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES.
"Any delay after China's entry might jeopardize Taiwan's accession," Cassingham said. "If a misunderstanding developed [between Taiwan and China], one of the unfortunate consequences could be that Beijing might reverse its policy and oppose admission for Taiwan."
WTO entry for both China and Taiwan, however, would likely spur economic growth in the region, strengthening peace and stability, "and might even encourage Beijing and Taipei to enter into talks about economic subjects, on which they largely seem to agree," he said.
Cassingham said that with the vote expected during the week of May 22, the delegation's task will be to convince US representatives who remain undecided on the issue that the bill's passage will benefit Taiwan.
"There are many people who see themselves as Taiwan supporters in Washington who might be surprised that people from Taiwan in fact support" the bill's passage, Cassingham said. "We hope to correct any misimpression that a vote against [the bill] is somehow doing Taiwan a favor."
Indeed, Taiwan President-elect Chen Shui-bian (
Cassingham said that Chen had reiterated his stance on the issue when he met with him earlier in the day.
The delegation's visit, which has been informally titled the Washington "door tap" in deference to AmCham's much larger annual lobby-run known as the "door knock," will come amid increasingly clamorous debate in the US over passage of permanent normal trade relations with China.
Human rights groups and labor organizations have argued against passage of the trade bill, saying it doesn't address all social issues and surrenders any economic leverage the US has over Chinese labor practices.
Cassingham says the debate is clouding the important issues ridding on the bill's passage, and he hopes to clear the fog somewhat for the undecided congressmen.
"There are a lot of people literally swarming in Washington talking about [the issue] from a lot of different angles," Cassingham said. "Whenever we get an exceedingly high number of people talking about something it's difficult to hear the words instead of the voices."
Many of the frustrations over social issues that people in the US believe are connected to the bill are "principally not economic issues," Cassingham said.
The AmCham chief said the delegation would focus on emphasizing the economic benefits to both Taiwan and US of WTO entry.
WTO entry would "improve investment opportunities for Taiwan companies in other WTO-member countries ... Taiwan's package of WTO commitments was attractive to US businesses when it was finalized in 1998, and it remains attractive today," Cassingham said.
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