In his excellent June 21 front-page article "U.S. and China Nearly Came to Blows in 1996" Barton Gellman wrote: "Since the 1972 Shanghai Communiqué, U.S. policy had held that there is one China and that Taiwan is part of China." That is incorrect.

This so-called One China policy indeed dates from the Feb. 28, 1972, Shanghai Communiqué, concluded by the U.S. and China at the end of President Nixon's trip to China. In it, the United States merely acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China, but it does not accept, support or agree with the policy, but simply takes note of China's position on Taiwan.

Taiwan is a de facto independent country with its own territory, autonomous government, military, currency, stock market, etc.

The One China policy thus is outdated and needs to be abolished. It came into being at the height of the Cold War when the U.S. needed an ally to counter the Soviet threat. Today, the Cold War is over and the Soviet threat is gone.

It is therefore time that the United States' One China policy be replaced by a policy that reflects reality: a "One China, One Taiwan" policy.

WEN-YEN CHEN

President, Formosan Association for Public Affairs, Washington