IV
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 490
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Taiwan should
be admitted to the World Trade Organization without making such
admission conditional on the previous or simultaneous admission of the
People’s Republic of China to the WTO.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 26, 1996
Mr. COX of California (for himself, Mr. BONO, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr.
FUNDERBURK, 
Mr. 
LANTOS, 
Ms. 
PELOSI, 
Mr. 
ROYCE, 
Mr.
SCARBOROUGH, Mr. SMITH
of New Jersey, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr.
TORRICELLI, and Mr. DORNAN) submitted the following resolution; which
was referred to the Committee on Way and Means
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that
Taiwan should be admitted to the World Trade Organi-
zation without making such admission conditional on the
previous or simultaneous admission of the People’s Re-
public of China to the WTO.
Whereas the purpose of the World Trade Organization (here-
after in this resolution referred to as the ‘‘WTO’’) is to
enable member countries to conduct trade based upon
free market principles, by limiting government interven-
tion in the form of state subsidies, by limiting nontariff
barriers, and by encouraging reciprocal reductions in tar-
iffs among members;
•HRES 490 IH
Whereas the WTO is based on the assumption that the im-
port and export of goods are conducted by independent
enterprises responding to profit incentives and market
forces;
Whereas the WTO requires that countries with nonmarket
economies implement significant reforms to change cen-
tralized and planned economic systems before they may
be considered for WTO membership, and the existence of
a decentralized and a free market economy is considered
a condition for fair trade among WTO members;
Whereas, pursuant to its charter and rules, membership in
the WTO is not limited to nations nor indicative of sov-
ereignty, a policy illustrated by the fact that Hong Kong
will remain a full member of the WTO as a separate cus-
toms territory after becoming part of the People’s Repub-
lic of China on July 1, 1997;
Whereas the Republic of China on Taiwan (hereafter in this
resolution referred to as ‘‘Taiwan’’) has applied for mem-
bership in the WTO as the separate customs territory of
Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu, and its application
is under review by a Working Party appointed under Ar-
ticle XXXIII of the GATT 1994 (as defined in section
2 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C.
3501));
Whereas Taiwan has a free market economy that has existed
for more than 3 decades, and is currently the 14th larg-
est trading nation in the world;
Whereas Taiwan has a gross national product that is the
world’s 20th largest, its foreign exchange reserves are
among the largest in the world, and it has become the
world’s 7th largest foreign investor;
•HRES 490 IH
Whereas Taiwan is the 7th largest trading partner of the
United States and its purchases of United States exports
are more than 50 percent greater than those of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China;
Whereas Taiwan has already agreed to reduce the tariff level
of many products, and to eliminate other nontariff bar-
riers as a condition of its admission to the WTO;
Whereas the United States and Taiwan have enjoyed a long-
standing and uninterrupted friendship, which has only in-
creased in light of the remarkable economic development
and political liberalization in Taiwan in recent years;
Whereas Taiwan reached an historic turning point in the de-
velopment of Chinese democracy on March 23, 1996,
when it conducted the first competitive, free, fair, direct,
and popular election of a head of state in over 4,000
years of recorded Chinese history, leading to Lee Teng-
hui’s inauguration as President on May 20, 1996;
Whereas for the past century the United States has promoted
democracy and economic freedom throughout the world,
and the evolution of Taiwan is an outstanding example
of the success of that policy;
Whereas Taiwan’s accession to the WTO is important to the
United States because it is the largest importer of United
States goods that is not already a member of the WTO,
and because Taiwan’s entry into the WTO would promote
significant new market opportunities for United States
exporters and investors;
Whereas a declaration of the European Parliament made on
July 18, 1996, rightly found that ‘‘the people of Taiwan
ought to be better represented to international organiza-
•HRES 490 IH
tions than they are at present, which would benefit both
Taiwan and the whole of the international community’’;
Whereas, notwithstanding these circumstances, the People’s
Republic of China has sought to block the admission of
Taiwan to the WTO until its own accession to member-
ship;
Whereas, notwithstanding this opposition, Taiwan is ready
for, and meets the criteria for, admission to the WTO;
Whereas the People’s Republic of China, in contrast to Tai-
wan, has applied for membership in the WTO not as a
developed nation, but rather as a developing nation, so
that it would be relieved of the obligations to reduce its
tariffs and eliminate its subsidies for government-con-
trolled industries, even after its admission to the WTO;
Whereas, in contrast to Taiwan, the Communist government
of the People’s Republic of China maintains strict gov-
ernment controls over most trade within its territory, re-
stricts and often outlaws free market competition, and
denies legal and regulatory protections for property
rights, all in ways that are incompatible with WTO prin-
ciples;
Whereas the Communist government of the People’s Republic
of China maintains an intricate system of restrictive and
punitive tariff and nontariff administrative controls to
implement its centrally-planned industrial and trade poli-
cies, with tariffs on foreign goods, such as automobiles,
as high as 150 percent, even though the People’s Repub-
lic of China has made commitments in the Memorandum
of Understanding on market access it signed with the
United States on October 10, 1992, and reaffirmed in
•HRES 490 IH
March of 1995, to reform significant parts of its import
regime;
Whereas the Communist government of the People’s Republic
of China has denied conditions necessary for free trade
in announcing in January of 1996 that its official news
agency, Xinhua, will supervise wire services selling eco-
nomic 
information, 
including 
Dow 
Jones-Telerate,
Bloomberg, and Reuters Business, and in announcing in
February of 1996 the ‘‘Interim Internet Management
Rules’’, which have the effect of censoring computer net-
works;
Whereas the People’s Republic of China’s failure to imple-
ment its March 11, 1995, agreement with the United
States to curtail piracy of products protected by intellec-
tual property rights, including music, videos, books, and
software, prompted a United States threat to impose
trade sanctions proportionate to an estimated loss of
$2,300,000,000 to the United States economy in 1995
that the piracy has caused;
Whereas representatives of the People’s Republic of China’s
two leading state-owned arms exporting companies, Poly
Technologies and Norinco, were arrested by Federal law
enforcement officers for smuggling into the United States
2,000 AK–47 rifles intended for sale to gangs, and offer-
ing to sell to Federal undercover agents 300,000 machine
guns with silencers, 66-millimeter mortars, hand gre-
nades, and even ‘‘Red Parakeet’’ surface-to-air missiles,
which, as stated in the criminal complaint against one of
those representatives, Hammond Ku, ‘‘Ku said...could
take out a 747’’ aircraft;
•HRES 490 IH
Whereas illegal activities such as these should be taken into
account in formulating trade policy with respect to any
country;
Whereas the Communist government of the People’s Republic
of China continues to use direct and indirect government
subsidies to unfairly advantage its own exports in con-
travention of market principles; and
Whereas, as a consequence of these practices, the People’s
Republic China is not ready for, and does not meet the
criteria for, admission to the WTO either as a developed
nation or a developing nation, while Taiwan can easily
meet and exceed all of the requirements for admission to
the WTO: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) Taiwan should be admitted to the WTO as
a separate customs territory without making such
admission conditional on the previous or simulta-
neous admission of the People’s Republic of China
to the WTO, whether as a developing or a developed
nation; and
(2) it should be United States policy to support
Taiwan’s admission to the WTO forthwith, without
making such admission conditional on the previous
or simultaneous admission of the People’s Republic
of China to the WTO.
Æ