In a May 30 Wall Street Journal article, former U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Charles W. Freeman III expressed doubts about the prospects of a free-trade agreement between the United States and Taiwan: "Given its almost obsessive antipathy for President Chen (Shui-bian), Beijing will do almost anything to stop him from achieving any new international 'space' for Taiwan. Beijing is not above hauling in representatives of American multinationals and forcing them to choose between a U.S.-Taiwan FTA and their businesses in China.
"Few would choose the benefits of expanding trade with the 23 million people of Taiwan," he added, "if it meant sacrificing their ambitions for a market of 1.3 billion. So U.S. business has yet to rally to support President Chen's vision of an FTA with the U.S."
If the article had been written by an anti-China conservative, it would have been nothing new. But Freeman is known for his pro-China stance. Anti-China or not, most pundits agree that China is ready to make blatant economic interventions for political purposes.