Bush Comment Irritates Taiwan

WASHINGTON —  President Bush’s assertion Thursday that Taiwan supports an extension of trade benefits for China embarrassed Taiwan’s Nationalist government, which issued a quick denial.

At his press conference, Bush twice said that in the last few weeks, Taiwan has been among the Asian governments urging the Administration to continue China’s most-favored-nation trading status.

“Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, even Taiwan made clear that MFN should be retained,” Bush said.

Not so, said Taiwan’s government.

Within a few hours, Ding Mou-shih, the head of Taiwan’s unofficial embassy here, called a press conference to say that he and his government had not in any way endorsed the trade benefits for the Communist regime in Beijing.