Dec. 7,2000 --- To: Trent Lott, Denny Hastert, George W. Bush

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Dear　Mr. Trent Lott,
　　　Mr. Denny Hastert,
　　　Mr. George W. Bush,

Leaders of Southeast Asian nations held a two-day meeting where they reached some agreements that will have a lasting impact on the prosperity of Eastern Asia.

A significant proposal agreed upon among the Southeast Asian leaders is the creation of a new East Asian trade alliance that will unite ASEAN members in their efforts to upgrade the development of Southeastern Asia. This pact may well bring major changes in the political and economic landscape in a region that has so far been largely composed of underdeveloped countries.

The e-commerce accord the leaders signed as they met in Singapore calls for the creation of high-speed regional Internet connections and elimination of duties of information-technology goods and services by 2010.

Another ambitious project the nations plan to carry out is to build a 5,500 kilometer-long railway from Singapore to China. With such a railroad the nations in Southeast Asia, the transportation of goods will be much easier and trade among the nations enlivened greatly.

With its chief goal being improvement of trade relations both among Asian nations and between ASEAN nations and the rest of the world, the existence of this organization is considered vital to peace and stability in the region. This is evidenced by the dynamic economic growth the member nations experienced since during the ‘70s. The first summit meeting of ASEAN leaders was held in 1976. It resulted in agreement on several industrial projects. In the ‘90s, ASEAN emerged as a leading voice on regional trade and security issues and members have succeeded to a great extent in reducing the tariffs among them.

The proposal that the Southeast Asian leaders announced last Saturday came after they conferred with their counterparts from mainland China, Japan and South area. At the two-day summit meeting, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said Asia should forge strong ties because it has common problems.

They do indeed. For starters, most of the countries in Asia are still suffering economically from the Asian financial crisis and some are poverty-stricken. A few are faced with political instability and social unrest as they change from authoritarian rule to democracy.

Their problems can be relieved if they cooperate and help each other actively and sincerely. As Goh Chok Tong said, a Southeast Asian alliance would not pose a threat to U.S. business interests. As the region grows in prosperity, the huge populations will have a larger need for American products. There is, for example, a potentially enormous market for American fast foods.

ASEAN leaders have decided to make mainland China, Japan, and South Korea key members of the planned alliance. This is understandable and quite natural. The decision would allow the Southeast Asian nations to benefit from the more prosperous economies of the three Asian neighbors.

It is a pity, however, that ASEAN is not going to include Taiwan in the alliance, and this is due to Beijing’s one China policy, which does not recognize Taiwan as a separate political entity.

Even so, ASEAN should do what’s within their power to promote peace in the Taiwan Strait. The member nations of the organization must keep in mind that an unstable and potentially explosive Taiwan Strait is a threat to the entire East Asia region.

A group of five high-ranking U.S. scholars are due in Taipei to collect information for the next U.S. government on Taiwan’s longstanding sovereignty dispute with mainland China, officials said yesterday.

The five-member delegation which includes three of Washington’s former China policy decision-makers, are expected to fly into Taipei from the United States on Tuesday.

“The delegation will be briefed by Foreign Minister Tien Hung-mao on the consensus recently reached by presidential advisers,” Vice Foreign Minister David Lee told the parliament.

He said the visitors “would make recommendations to the next U.S. government” on the Beijing-Taipei ties, which deteriorated further after Chen Shui-bian from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was swept into power on March 18.

Despite 51 years of de facto independent rule, mainland China insists Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory and must be brought back under the rule of the government in Beijing.

The visit by the U.S. delegation comes in the wake of a 22-member presidential advisory group, led by Nobel Prize laureate Lee Yuan-tseh, failing to come up with a concrete proposal last month to Beijing’s insistence that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it.

The advisory group, set up earlier this year to help Chen deal with rival mainland China., recommended any response to Beijing’s demand be according to the constitution, without providing details on what this would mean.

“Their proposals are nonsense, empty expressions and word games,” said Zhang Mingqing, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office, an agency under mainland China’s State Council, or Cabinet.

Taiwan needs your help.