US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky
                 says membership for Beijing could help defuse
                 tension across the Taiwan Strait

                 PHILADELPHIA -- World Trade Organisation
                 (WTO) membership for both China and Taiwan
                 could help defuse political tensions between the
                 mainland and the island, a top US official has
                 suggested.

                 US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, who
                 is trying to drum up support for federal legislation
                 granting Beijing Permanent Normal Trade Relations
                 (PNTR) with the United States, also said there was
                 no need for Taiwanese security to be a subject for
                 debate when the US House of Representatives votes
                 on trade next month.

                 "The opening of both economies, while we have no
                 guarantees, may ultimately play some part in easing
                 the tensions in the Strait," she said in a speech at the
                 University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

                 "It should come as no surprise that Taiwan's new
                 leadership supports China's entry into the WTO and
                 normalised trade between China and the United
                 States."

                 Last month, Taiwanese President-elect Chen
                 Shui-bian, whose pro-independence stance has
                 angered China, told an interviewer that he supported
                 China's membership in the WTO.

                 China considers Taiwan a rebel province and has
                 recently threatened action if the island resists
                 reunification with the mainland.

                 PNTR status, which the House is scheduled to vote
                 on during the week of May 22, would help pave the
                 way for China's accession to the WTO and full
                 membership for Beijing in the community of global
                 trade.

                 Ms Barshefsky and other officials in the Clinton
                 administration have predicted that WTO membership
                 would lead to democratic reform and an end to
                 human-rights abuses in China.

                 On Thursday, the trade representative, who
                 negotiated the PNTR agreement, spoke of benefits
                 for Taipei, which has been expected to follow China
                 quickly into the WTO. -- Reuters

                       Adapted from The Straits Times, 8 Apr 2000.