Chairman Ray Burghardt of the American Institute in Taiwan spoke a day after he met with President Chen Shui-bian to discuss the referendum issue, which calls for Taiwan to apply to the world body under its own name, rather than its official title of the Republic of China.

Beijing has attacked the bid as a precursor to formal independence. The two sides split amid civil war in 1949 and China continues to see the self-ruled island as part of its territory. It has threatened to attack if Taipei rejects eventual unification and seeks a permanent break.

The United States has also criticized the referendum measure, with officials like Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte decrying it as a "mistake" that would steer Taiwan toward "an alteration of the status quo" in the perennially volatile western Pacific.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Burghardt said it was important that Taiwanese presidential candidates Frank Hsieh of Chen's Democratic Progressive Party and Ma Ying-jeou of the main opposition Nationalists not be hindered by the results of the referendum, which will be held next March in tandem with the presidential poll. Chen will step down in May 2008.

"The new president, whether it's Hsieh or Ma ... he deserves to be his own man," Burghardt said. "He shouldn't be boxed in by statements made now."

In blasting the referendum bid, Burghardt said it held the danger of limiting Taiwan's freedom of maneuver with Beijing, with which it has conducted an uneasy and often acrimonious relationship for the past 58 years.

If the measure passed he said, tensions could rise appreciably.

Still, Burghardt conceded, the referendum will likely go forward, despite the best efforts of the United States to stop it.

"I think (it) will probably be held," he said.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Chen insisted that he was powerless to halt the referendum even if he wanted to.

"The referendum was initiated by the people," he said. "It has nothing to do with the president, and the government cannot revoke the referendum."

Chen spoke to the AP directly after meeting with Burghardt.

Burghardt was named to the AIT post in 2006.

The organization was established in 1979, immediately after the U.S. shifted recognition from Taipei to Beijing. Despite that move, Washington remains Taiwan's most important foreign partner, providing it the means to defending itself against a possible Chinese attack.

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