Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said more Asian nations will be inclined to forge trade pacts with Taiwan if it secures such a deal with his city-state first, local media said yesterday.
Lee, in an interview with the Chinese-language China Times, said the two sides hope to sort out details for the planned deal within “the next few months.”
Taiwan and Singapore announced in July that they would hold talks later this year on a trade agreement, the first such negotiations since Taipei sealed a major trade deal with China.
“Our selling point is that if [Taiwan] has cooperation with Singapore, other countries will ponder hard: ‘If Singapore is doing this, are we going to lag behind if we are not following?’” he said.
Lee said Singapore, a leading member of ASEAN, was ahead of other nations in the bloc in signing trade deals with major economies such as the US and Japan.
However, the pact issue was still “sensitive” for Taiwan despite its warming ties with China, he said.
Taiwan “has to ensure that cross-strait ties are not affected when it walks out [onto the international stage]. I believe Taiwan will carefully consider this factor,” Lee said, adding that Beijing is keeping an eye on the matter.
Taiwan has free-trade agreements with Panama, Guatemala and Nicaragua and has been pushing to forge tie-ups with other major trading partners. Such talks were bogged down, largely due to pressure from Beijing.
Singapore is Taiwan’s sixth-largest trading partner.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
RSS