June 21, 2001

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: GARY SCHMITT

SUBJECT: China

While in China recently, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick was asked whether he supported the Taiwan president's attendance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this October in Shanghai, along with President Bush and the other APEC heads of state. Zoellick responded by saying that he thought it would be "a constructive step." The idea was immediately shot down by State Department spokesman Richard Boucher and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, both of whom argued that Taiwan should, as it has in the past, be represented at the summit by a lower-ranking official, and should accept this second-class status as "appropriate."

But, of course, it's not appropriate. Since 1991, Taiwan has been a full member of APEC. Its status within the organization is no different from the mainland's. APEC's own statement of principles commit the organization to conducting its activities and programs "on the basis of open dialogue with equal respect for the views of all participants." Nor does U.S. law require an administration to take this stance. To the contrary, the Taiwan Relations Act makes it clear that, outside of formal ties between the two countries, Taiwan is to be treated as a state or nation for every other purpose.

There is no reason for the Bush Administration to adopt reflexively the previous administration's policy on Taiwan's participation at the APEC summit as its own. To the contrary, there is every reason to abandon it now. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly recently said that the Bush Administration "wants a productive relationship with Beijing that promotes our interests and those of the entire Asia-Pacific region." However, accepting a practice whose intent is to placate Beijing and which allows it to fix the terms for another country's participation in a key regional body is hardly conducive to establishing such a relationship. The PRC should abide by the organization's rules, not set them, if the administration really hopes to put U.S.-China relations on a sounder footing in the future.