Bush May Back Taiwan GATT Bid, Buck China

The Bush Administration has indicated that it is seriously considering a request by Taiwan to join the world’s leading trading organization, despite outraged protests by China that U.S. support for such a move might contradict nearly two decades of understandings between Washington and Beijing.

In an official statement issued late Friday, the State Department said it is “studying carefully” a recent application by Taiwan for membership in the Geneva-based General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the 97-nation compact that administers global trading rules.

“Given Taiwan’s importance in the global trading system, we look forward to the eventual inclusion of Taiwan, on appropriate terms of membership, in the GATT,” the State Department said. Bush Administration officials note that Taiwan has now become the fifth-largest trading partner of the United States.

Supporting Taiwan’s current effort to join GATT would go further than any other move by the United States in the past decade toward giving official recognition and status to Taiwan, which China considers to be a renegade province.

In January, Taiwan filed a new application to join GATT--not as an independent country but as a “customs union.” GATT has granted membership to other customs unions, including Hong Kong. China itself applied for membership in GATT four years ago and now has observer status in the organization. Chinese officials have suggested they would not oppose admitting Taiwan separately into the trading organization as long as China became a full-fledged member first.