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Washington, April 4 (CNA) Beijing's wait-and-see approach toward Taiwan since the island's election of a president who is a member of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) bodes ill for Taiwan over the long term, said a Chinese affairs expert here on Monday.

Bates Gill, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, told a symposium organized by Washington-based think tank The Heritage Foundation that Beijing is closely monitoring Taiwan President-elect Chen Shui-bian's words and deeds. He said that they are awaiting a positive sign, hopefully from Chen's inaugural speech when he is sworn in on May 20.

Another reason behind Beijing's foot-dragging on issuing an official response to the election of Taiwan's new president is the current debate in the US Congress over granting permanent normal trade relations (NTR) status with the US to the mainland. A vote on the issue is scheduled in May.

Beijing would rather wait until its NTR status has been granted before resuming a heavy-handed approach toward Taiwan, said Gill.

The looming power struggle in the run-up to the scheduled reshuffling of Beijing's ruling team in 2002 is further prompting leaders there to get tough with Taiwan as a way to boost their position within the Chinese Communist Party, Gill added.

Unless both sides of the Taiwan Strait are willing to be more flexible in defining their "one China" policy, any dialogue between them would be scuttled by deep-rooted discrepancies, said Gill.

Tien Hung-mao, director of the Institute for National Policy Research in Taipei, told the forum that Chen has already sharply compromised his pro-independence stance because of Beijing's fierce hostility toward an official independence declaration.

However, Chen is not ready to accept Beijing's "one China policy" which runs head-on against his long-standing preference for an independent Taiwan, said Tien. The conflict has deepened since Beijing's Taiwan policy shifted from a "blockade of Taiwan independence" to "pressing for national reunification", and talks with Beijing under Beijing's terms is nothing less than capitulation, said Tien.

Tien urged Beijing to mitigate its stance or the policy will backfire, as Taiwan's public think that Chen has already conceded too much to Beijing. (By Jay Chen & Maubo Chang)