From The Financial Times (link):
Taiwan should ease its trade restrictions with China or risk economic marginalisation, the deputy US trade representative said on Friday. The call by Karan Bhatia, the most senior US official to visit Taipei in six years, came after he rejected an appeal by President Chen Shui-bian to start negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan in the near future. He said congressional restrictions prevented the administration from starting a new round of free trade agreement talks. The refusal was a disappointment to Taipei, which had hoped such an agreement would make it politically easier for other countries to seek trade pacts with Taipei against pressure from China. This would have helped Taiwan to counter a drift to economic isolation as Beijing pushes for bilateral and regional trade agreements in Asia.
