The US does not see any connection between how China handles its trade relations with Taiwan and the nation’s chances of being admitted to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), visiting US Department of State senior official for APEC affairs Robert Wang said yesterday.
“[When] we look at Taiwan’s membership in the TPP, we will be asking Taiwan what areas you are willing to open up [to TPP members] on its own, unrelated to which areas Taiwan opens to China. That’s another issue,” Wang said at a roundtable discussion with local press in Taipei.
Wang was the second US official unambiguously stating that cross-strait relations will not affect the US’ stance on Taiwan joining TPP negotiations, after the cross-strait service trade agreement was recently stalled in the legislature as a result of massive opposition from the public to the agreement.
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesperson Mark Zimmer said on April 10 that there was no direct connection between the two issues in response to media inquiries.
William Stanton, director of the Center for Asia Policy at National Tsing Hua University and former AIT director, said in an interview published yesterday that he did not see the possibility that the US would decide not to move forward with Taiwan’s inclusion on account of any objection from China.
Despite the comments from the US, Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) reiterated that China could negatively affect the nation’s chances of joining the TPP because China is the biggest or second-biggest trade partner for most of the 11 other TPP members, although the US may not consider the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) a necessary step.
Asked to respond to Chang, Wang said the US does not see the ECFA as a requirement for Taiwan’s membership in the TPP.
“If Taiwan wants to join or [an]other country wants to join the TPP, that [the country’s relationship with China] is not one of the criteria. We will evaluate anyone’s interests in joining the TPP based on TPP standards and on whether the country would be a positive factor when it joins the TPP, in terms of promoting trade and greater liberalization,” Wang said.
Asked about China’s leverage on other TPP members with regard to Taiwan’s accession to the TPP talks, Wang said he cannot speak for other countries.
Wang said when the US started preparations for the TPP negotiations about two years ago, China was reportedly unhappy because it thought the US initiative was aimed at excluding Beijing.
“That did not stop the TPP from going. How China sees something is not what the TPP is concerned [about]. The TPP focuses on liberalization, ruled-based system, and was to make sure it benefits those who want to join the TPP when it expands,” the US official said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS