Although Taiwan has unilaterally demonstrated its willingness to embrace freer trade and deserves WTO membership in its own right, the unfortunate political reality is that China's prior admission would make Taipei's membership more palatable for many members.
If China's accession does not go forward in a timely fashion, however, Taiwan's membership should not continue to be held hostage.
Of course, the US Congress could still wreck the deal. Anger at alleged Chinese spying, illegal campaign contributions, and continuing human rights violations could prompt some members to reject a WTO accession agreement out of hand.
Such congressional critics charge that allowing China to enter the WTO would be to reward it for bad behavior.
That would be a major mistake. WTO membership is not a reward; it is a commitment to institute unprecedented reform and economic openness.
To block China from taking such positive steps because it has made mistakes in other areas only ensures that China's policies will remain uniformly unsound. Besides, as despicable as China's behavior may have been, a good part of the blame must fall on the Clinton administration.
After all, can Americans reasonably expect China to refrain from trying to influence US elections if such influence is for sale?
Washington routinely throws dollars at other countries for exactly the same purpose.
Similarly, that China worked to obtain US nuclear secrets is not a shocking revelation. To the contrary, espionage between great powers has always been the norm. Much more troubling is that the administration failed to plug security leaks after they were discovered.
US Congress should also resist the temptation to obstruct trade liberalization in name of improving human rights.
Trade barriers hurt US consumers and businesses, as well as the most economically vulnerable citizens of China, while doing little to change conditions there.
Certainly Washington should refuse to subsidize trade with China -- an activity which unjustly benefits only a handful of US exporters -- but the freedom of Americans to trade with China should not be sacrificed for a policy that is sure to yield only bitterness, not understanding, between the two countries.
In short, although the current deal is late in coming and although Washington should have made additional concessions, it is nevertheless a positive step. Admitting China to the WTO is in the best interest of China, the US and the world.
Aaron Lukas is an analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies in Washington.
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