The relative importance of Taiwan as a US trading partner has declined over the past 20 years, a new report by the US Congressional Research Service says.
This is especially true, it says, when compared with US trade with China.
The report, an overview of policy issues in US-Taiwan relations, says that “many observers” saw Taipei’s restriction on US beef as a major obstacle.
More than any other issue, beef is responsible for the freezing of talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), the forum used by Taiwan and the US to discuss economic issues.
TIFA talks have not been held since 2007.
Total US trade with Taiwan last year was US$67.2 billion, making Taiwan the 10th-largest US trading partner — down from sixth position in 1989.
“US trade with Taiwan has been relatively stagnant over the past 10 years,” the report says.
On the positive side, Taiwan has “greatly improved” its protection of intellectual property rights, although a number of problems remain, including “infringement of copyrighted material on the Internet,” it adds.
“The US has raised concerns over Taiwan’s barriers on certain agricultural products such as rice, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Taiwan’s use of sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures to block US beef sales to Taiwan are of particular concern to US officials,” the report says.
US officials charge that a bilateral protocol that provided for expanded market access for US beef and beef products in Taiwan has been “significantly undermined” by action taken by the Legislative Yuan, the report says.
Written by Shirley Kan, a specialist in Asian security affairs, and Wayne Morrison, a specialist in Asian trade and finance, the report concludes that both Washington and Taipei have put more efforts into relations with Beijing than they have with each other.
It predicts that further into President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) second term Beijing could increase pressure on Taiwan “in preparing for, if not pressing for, political and military negotiations.”
The report says that despite the pronouncements of “one China” by leaders in Taipei and Beijing and closer cross-strait ties, Taiwan’s people retain a strong Taiwan-centric identity.
“Taiwan’s people pragmatically have pursued prosperity, security and their democratic way of life and self-governance,” the report says.
It adds that Ma has said he places priority on the relationship with the US, but some observers say Taiwan needs to restore trust lost in the relationship and “reciprocate US efforts to strengthen it.”
Although Ma is chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the report says, it has been a challenge for him to lead his administration and party “to resolve the dispute over US beef.”
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
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
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
RSS