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[Page: S9474]

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For example, six nations--China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and the Philippines--dispute, and occasionally fight over, the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Those islands, as well as the contested Parcels to the north, lie in crucial sealanes and in the middle of what may be among the richest untapped oil fields in the world. Japan and Russia both lay claim to the Northern Territories, as they are called in Japan, the Kurile Islands as they are referred to by the Russians. Peace in Cambodia remains tenuous. The country experienced a coup attempt earlier this month and faces ongoing threats from the Khmer Rouge. Malaysia and Indonesia confront separatist movements. Armed rebels plague the southern islands of the Philippines. Burma's government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, brutalizes its population and thrives on the drug trade. Most dangerous of all, of course, is North Korea's nuclear program and its precariously positioned regime.

The Asian Regional Forum, which will conduct its first meeting later this month, holds at least some promise for resolving these and other problems through negotiation rather than confrontation.

We should recognize how crucial the Asia Pacific's relative stability over the years has been to its spectacular growth. With the end of the cold war, the region's many latent security problems pose a direct challenge to the stability undergirding economic success. That success, moreover, has benefited not just the people of East Asia. It has also directly benefited the citizens of the United States. More American exports are sent to the Asia Pacific than to any other region of the world. And we all know that exports mean jobs. Therefore, it is in America's interest, as well as the interest of the Asia Pacific region, that peace and stability be maintained.

Asia never has had institutions comparable to those of Europe which did so much to foster that continent's stability. Recently, however, a number of efforts have been undertaken to create new post-cold war institutions for the Pacific Basin. APEC, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation process, is the most important of these new bodies. Though still in its infancy, APEC has begun to play a meaningful role in fostering more open trade and

investment in the region. The Asian Regional Forum has the potential for playing a similarly important role in addressing Asia Pacific security problems.

Last year, Beijing finally allowed Taiwan's admission to APEC when Taiwan agreed to call itself `Chinese Taipei' and consider itself an economic rather than political entity in the organization. Since the PRC maintains that there is only one China--which encompasses Taiwan--it asserts that Taiwan cannot have a seat at the table of organizations such as ARF, which address issues involving nations rather than economies. As we all know, however, in the real world, Taiwan functions independently of China. Taipei has a vibrant economy, thriving democratic institutions and impressive defense capabilities.

As I have mentioned, Taiwan and China both hold claims to the Spratly Islands. China also asserts the right to invade Taiwan at any time that Taipei behaves overly independently. Both these issues pose a serious threat to the peace and security of the region as well as the vital interests of the United States.

These two issues, as well as many others involving China and Taiwan, deserve open discussion. The Asian Regional Forum could foster such discussion--but obviously only if Taiwan were able to participate. Mr. President, the time has come for China to acknowledge reality and permit Taiwan a voice in the Asian Regional Forum.

I might add that I have a certain amount of personal experience in dealing with the problems Taiwan faces in joining international organizations. For the past 3 years, I have been actively involved in the establishment of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum, a group designed to bring together parliamentarians from the Asia Pacific to consider the political ramifications of APEC activities, trade and investment issues, and regional security problems. APPF has bipartisan support in this country and has been enthusiastically endorsed by the administration.

Unfortunately, China has been successful in keeping Taiwan out of APPF thus far, despite the fact that most all APPF participants support Taiwan's membership. There is wide agreement among members of APPF that China's intransigence has made it more difficult for the group to accomplish its goals.

I should also add that I have long been a supporter of Taiwan's entry into the GATT and now the World Trade Organization. I believe it essential that the world's most important multilateral trade body include Taiwan as it constitutes the 13th largest trader. In addition, Taiwan's manifest global clout and influence make it vital, in my opinion, that it become a member of the United Nations.

Mr. President, I ask that the New York Times editorial of last Saturday appear at the end of my remarks in the Record.

The editorial follows:

Look Again at Taiwan

If buying $8 billion worth of American products entitles China to flout President Clinton's human rights requirements and still win renewal of its trade privileges, buying twice that amount should entitle Taiwan to a little diplomatic respect.

Taiwan has one of Asia's most developed economies, best armed militaries and most vibrant democracies. Yet Taiwan's President is not allowed to stay overnight on American soil, Taiwanese officials are not allowed to meet their U.S. counterparts in government buildings and Taiwan's diplomatic offices in this country cannot use any name that would identify the country they represent.

This charade reflects the long-held position of both Taipei and Beijing that there is only one China and that it includes both the mainland and Taiwan. Washington abided by this fiction both before and after it switched U.S. recognition from Nationalist Taiwan to the Communist mainland in 1979,

But in reality two distinct societies, economies and political systems have grown up on either side of the Taiwan Straits. And despite its official `one China policy,' Taipei now seeks diplomatic recognition as a separate political entity.

That has prompted the Clinton Administration to undertake a cautious review of U.S. policy. The resulting recommendations await White House approval. They would east some of the more humiliating diplomatic restrictions now in force. Cabinet-level visits in both directions would be permitted. Meetings could take place on official premises. Taiwan's unofficial representative offices could be renamed. These are useful steps, meant to make it easier for Americans to do business with the country's fifth-largest trading partner.

But recognizing reality should not stop there. Taiwan is too important a factor in East Asian politics, economics and security to be left out of the new post-cold war order now taking shape. It belongs in the new World Trade Organization. It ought to be included in the Asean Regional Forum on security being launched in Bangkok later this month. And ideally, it should be admitted to the U.N.

The main obstacle to Taiwan's inclusion in such organizations is the bellicose opposition of mainland China, which openly asserts the right to invade and annex Taiwan if the Government there acts too independently. Beijing claims that its relations with Taiwan are an internal matter to be resolved by the two sides along without outside involvement.

It is not in America's interest to provoke China on this score. But shutting Taiwan out of international forums also carries risks for the U.S. Under present arrangements, if China made good on its threats to attack, other Asian countries would look the other way while the United States, alone, would find itself caught in the middle of the fray.

Last year, Washington helped arrange a compromise formula that let Taiwan participate in the Asia-Pacific economic summit meetings in Seattle. Now it should begin exploring ways to involve Taiwan in the new regional security forum as well.

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