P.M. BRIEFING : China, Taiwan and Hong Kong Welcome at Forum, U.S. Says
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HONG KONG — The United States would welcome China, Taiwan and Hong Kong into a regional economic forum proposed by Australia last year, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Robert A. Mosbacher said today.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, proposed by Australia last November to develop closer economic ties in the region, will hold its first meeting in Singapore next week.
Asked how Washington would feel about the three joining, Mosbacher told a news conference: “We think under the right criteria that would be a good idea, and we hope other APEC nations would feel the same way.”
Mosbacher is in Hong Kong on a two-day official visit.
APEC groups the members of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations--Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand--with Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
China and Taiwan technically have been at war since the Chinese Communists drove the Nationalists from the Mainland in 1949. Hong Kong, a British colony, reverts to Chinese rule in 1997. The three were not invited to join APEC in order to avoid antagonizing any of them.
Mosbacher leaves Hong Kong on Sunday to attend the APEC meeting that starts the same day.
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