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.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS