TAIPEI - Taiwan found recently that World Trade Organization (WTO) membership can be a pain in the proverbial when it announced a drastic tax cut on locally brewed rice wine. Taipei's intention to halve the bottle price of home-produced rice wine did not go down well with the United States and the European Union (EU), the biggest exporters of alcoholic beverages to the Taiwanese market. Both Washington and Brussels allege that after the tax cut the local liquor will become an unfair competitor to imported whisky, cognac and brandy.