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'Customs territory' is nixed by Clinton

US President Bill Clinton has vowed that the US will not accept Beijing's proposal to label Taiwan a "customs territory of China" in documents related to China's entry into the WTO.

Clinton said in a letter to Senator Jon Kyl that China had given assurances that it would not seek to block Taiwan's eventual admission into the world trade group.

"China has made clear on many occasions, and at high levels, that it will not oppose Taiwan's accession to the WTO," Clinton wrote in the letter, which was made public on Wednesday.

"Nevertheless, China did submit proposed language to their working party stating that Taiwan is a separate customs territory of China," Clinton wrote. ``We have advised the Chinese that such language is inappropriate ... and that we will not accept it."

The letter addresses concerns of US congressional officials who fear that China plans to use the WTO application process to force international recognition of its claim over Taiwan.

Kyl, along with 30 other Senators, wrote Clinton on July 27 to urge the administration to reject China's demands for the WTO to treat Taiwan as a part of China. Clinton's response was dated Aug. 31.

Brushing aside the opposition, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi (孫玉璽) said yesterday that China wanted its sovereignty claim over Taiwan written into the terms for Taiwan's membership to WTO.

``The Chinese side has a consistent and clear position: Taiwan can join WTO as a separate customs territory of China,'' Sun said at a twice-weekly media briefing. He accused Taiwan of using the WTO negotiations to engage in separatism.

``We are opposed to the activities conducted by the Taiwan authorities to use the WTO to engage in `two Chinas,' or `one China, one Taiwan' in any form,'' Sun said.

Sun claimed that a 1992 presidential statement on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the predecessor to the WTO, said that Taiwan could join as a separate Chinese territory.

"In 1992, the presidential statement on GATT has already stipulated this and this should be observed by all sides," he said.

Meanwhile, in a debate on whether the US should grant permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China, Senator Jesse Helms urged his colleagues to "stand up for Taiwan."

The senate's foreign relations committee, of which Helms is the chairman, held a hearing on Taiwan's accession to the WTO on Wednesday.

Helms said that Taiwan should have been admitted to the 137-member trade organization a long time ago because it is more advanced economically than China and has for years met the WTO's membership requirements.

Helms and Kyl called for some kind of measure to prevent China from blocking Taiwan's WTO entry.

``I think ... Congress ought to go ahead and do something,'' Helms said. ``I think we ought to stand up for Taiwan now.''

Kyl is finalizing a proposed amendment to the PNTR bill that is designed to warn China against trying to enshrine its claim over Taiwan into its WTO application documents.

Under an agreement signed in 1992, once China joins the WTO, Taiwan is to immediately follow. Hong Kong is already a member and is treated as a separate customs territory.

Senator Craig Thomas, chairman of the subcommittee on Asia-Pacific issues, said that he would oppose any amendment to the PNTR bill. Thomas said that he had seen no indication that China intends to block Taiwan's accession.

"Their representations to me have been exactly the opposite," he said.
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