[KITA News] U.S. and Taiwan, establish trade agreement amidst China’s resistance

                                                  

U.S. and Taiwan, establish trade agreement amidst China’s resistance

U.S. and Taiwan, establish trade agreement amidst China’s resistance…

”A historical milestone”

 

U.S. and Taiwan, establish trade agreement amidst China’s resistance...

“A historical milestone”

 

First agreement pursuant to the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative…

Simplification of customs procedure, reduction in logistics

 

 

The U.S. and Taiwan have established a bilateral trade agreement amidst strong resistance from China.

 

According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency on June 2, on June 1 (local time), in Washington D.C, Executive Director Ingrid Lawson of the American Institute in Taiwan, the equivalent of a U.S. Embassy, signed the first agreement pursuant to the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative with Representative Hsiao Bi-khim of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S.

 

The signing ceremony was conducted with the observers Sarah Bianchi, Deputy United States Trade Representative, and Representative Deng Chen-Chung of the Taiwan Office of Trade Negotiations.

 

This first agreement does not deal with the general core theme of the FTA, which is tariff reduction/abolition. Instead, it contains clauses on simplifying customs procedure, improving regulations and reducing logistical time.

 

Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations explained that in this agreement, 5 topics have been included, which are simplification of customs administration and trade; facilitation of legal procedure; domestic provisions for services; anti-corruption; and SMEs. There are also seven topics that will be included in the follow-up negotiations, which are labor, environment, agriculture, digital trade, standards, government-led projects, non-market policies and practices.

 

In addition, the Office of Trade Negotiations remarked that clauses related to high-level trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership were also included.

 

The OTN said that “This agreement has formed a strong legal basis for economic trade between Taiwan and the U.S.,” and emphasized that “An opportunity has come for the two parties to gradually expand the substance of the agreement and develop it into a broader FTA.”

 

After the signing, Representative Deng Chen-Chung of the Office of Trade Negotiations said that “Today’s trade agreement established between Taiwan and the U.S. is the largest and most full-fledged of trade negotiations conducted between Taiwan and the U.S. since 1979 (when the U.S. established diplomatic ties with China and severed relations with Taiwan)…It is a historical milestone in the economic and trade relations between Taiwan and the U.S. Moreover, it is an important step for establishment of trade negotiations between Taiwan and the major trading nations.”

Through the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21^st Century Trade, the U.S. has been seeking means of cooperation in the economic arena by building a separate channel with Taiwan that was excluded from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which consists of thirteen countries of the Indo-Pacific.

 

The U.S.-Taiwan Initiative was announced by the Biden Administration in June of last year. Because issues such as tariffs are not treated, it is not a formal FTA, but its goal is to strengthen trade ties with Taiwan.

 

Immediately before establishment of the agreement in the afternoon of June 1 (China local time), at a regular Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing, China expressed strong opposition, and is expected to stipulate this position repeatedly during the day.

 

On June 1, Mao Ning, Deputy Director of Information at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, raised strong dissent against the U.S., a country with which it has diplomatic relations, in establishing a formal agreement with Taiwan. It criticized the U.S. for violating the “One China” principle, and provisions of the Three Tenets of the Shanghai Communique established between China and the U.S.

 

Director Mao warned that, “The U.S. must stop all forms of official exchange between the U.S. and Taiwan. It must not sign an agreement with the Taiwan region of China that has sovereign significance and is of an official nature. The U.S. must not send the wrong signal to the Taiwanese independence forces under the pretext of economy and trade.”

 

To Taiwan, Mao announced that, “The Democratic Progressive Party authority’s efforts to promote independence by depending on the U.S. based on claims for economic and trade cooperation shall fail.”

 

(Provided by Yonhap News)

By - KITA.Net (http://kita.org/about/newsView.do?id=&no=2792&searchWrd=&pageIndex=1)