Taiwan Not a Territory

To the editor:

Carine M. Williams' article titled "Taiwanese Official Lauds U.S. Relations" (Oct. 30) fails to emphasize that representative Stephen Chen spoke on behalf of the governing Kuomintang Party's views regarding Taiwan's reunification status, which does not necessarily represent the views of most Taiwanese in Taiwan. It is also an egregious mistake to say that "...Taiwan...remains a territory of the communist People's Republic of China." That is the mainland's assertion and infers subservience of Taiwan to China's political system, even in its thriving democracy. Taiwan is currently a separate entity that is not subservient to China or China's political system. Misleading statements like that have led many in the U.S. to believe that Taiwan is currently a part of China, which it is not. Let us not repeat that misnomer again. KAREN CHANG   Nov. 5, 1998

The author is a junior at Wellesley College,