The administration of US president-elect Barack Obama is not likely to pick a fight with China by establishing closer formal commercial ties with Taiwan, considering Washington’s many common interests with Beijing, a former assistant US trade representative said yesterday.
Charles Freeman, an expert on US-China relations, said that signing a US-Taiwan free trade agreement or Washington’s support for Taiwan’s participation in the P4 group of countries — consisting of New Zealand, Singapore, Chile and Brunei — could easily “upset China.”
“Any move by the US to support Taiwan’s participation in organizations such as the P4 will require Beijing’s approval,” Freeman said in Washington during a videoconference with representatives of Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations.
Freeman said, however, that the Obama administration would continue to urge China to be a responsible stakeholder and try to pressure it into expanding domestic consumption and appreciating its currency.
Treasury secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, who lived in China where his father worked on aid projects and speaks Cantonese, will be in charge of continuing the Strategic Economic Dialogue and monitoring the issue of currency manipulation, Freeman said.
“It is very likely that Geithner will work harder than [US Treasury Secretary] Henry Paulson to get the EU, Japan and others to work with the US in the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral settings against China’s currency interventions,” Freeman said.
When asked about the Obama administration’s plan for a US-P4 agreement, Freeman said there would be little political cost for the US’ negotiators in playing an active role in the talks, as the agreement is still being negotiated.
“Indeed there may be some political support because the P4 promises to give the US additional opportunities in markets which China has increasingly dominated,” Freeman said, adding that markets in the Asia-Pacific region have been growing on their own and deserve the attention of US trade policy.
Freeman currently holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and