Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is to be Taiwan’s next representative to the US.
Hsiao is well versed in international affairs and Taiwan-US relations. In her days as a student in the US, she was a member of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) and served as chief executive of the Democratic Progressive Party’s US mission. She is familiar with a broad spectrum of Taiwanese affairs in the US.
FAPA hopes that Hsiao, after taking up her new post, would continue to deepen and normalize relations between Taiwan and the US, and that she would try to get a free-trade agreement (FTA) signed during her time in the position.
A Taiwan-US FTA is in the best interest of both nations.
Taiwan would benefit in at least three ways: An agreement would boost Taiwan-US trade and investment, raise Taiwan’s strategic position in the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy and boost international recognition of Taiwan.
US-China relations are deteriorating because of the trade dispute and the COVID-19 pandemic. China’s worsening investment environment is expected to incentivize investors from the US and other countries to accelerate their exodus from China, causing global supply chains to be restructured.
A Taiwan-US FTA would not only upgrade trade partnerships and attract foreign investment to Taiwan, but also help the nation to join regional economic integration initiatives, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
China’s expansion of its economic and military influence has badly upset regional stability and led the US to view China as a strategic competitor.
To prevent China from stealing advanced US technology and keep Chinese-made 5G communications products from threatening US national security, the US has increased its cooperation with Taiwan’s technological and military industries.
The US has persuaded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to construct a factory in the US. There is also a plan to set up a service center for US F-16 warplanes in Taiwan. An FTA would bolster bilateral cooperation in sensitive technological and military industries, and promote Taiwan’s trade and strategic status in the Indo-Pacific region.
An FTA could also boost US recognition of Taiwan as a nation. Ever since the US broke up diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, the US and Taiwan have only maintained unofficial relations, with all bilateral agreements being signed by the American Institute in Taiwan.
However, negotiating an FTA would be the responsibility of the Office of the US Trade Representative.
An FTA would only come into effect after being approved by both houses of the US Congress and signed into law by the US president. It would be an official nation-to-nation agreement concluded by the US and Taiwan governments, giving it the force of a treaty under international law.
FAPA and Taiwan-friendly members of the US Congress have long called for the US and Taiwan to sign an FTA. As US-China trade tensions escalate and the Taiwan-US partnership grows ever closer, now is the perfect opportunity to negotiate and sign an FTA.
Taiwan — which has just been declared free of foot-and-mouth disease, so that it can start exporting pork again — should approach the issues of US pork and beef pragmatically, and based on international food safety standards.
At the same time as safeguarding public health, the government should strive to reach a Taiwan-US FTA that would serve both nations’ economic and strategic interests, and upgrade Taiwan’s international status.
Minze Chien is president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs.
Translated by Julian Clegg
US president-elect Donald Trump continues to make nominations for his Cabinet and US agencies, with most of his picks being staunchly against Beijing. For US ambassador to China, Trump has tapped former US senator David Perdue. This appointment makes it crystal clear that Trump has no intention of letting China continue to steal from the US while infiltrating it in a surreptitious quasi-war, harming world peace and stability. Originally earning a name for himself in the business world, Perdue made his start with Chinese supply chains as a manager for several US firms. He later served as the CEO of Reebok and
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
US president-elect Donald Trump in an interview with NBC News on Monday said he would “never say” if the US is committed to defending Taiwan against China. Trump said he would “prefer” that China does not attempt to invade Taiwan, and that he has a “very good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Before committing US troops to defending Taiwan he would “have to negotiate things,” he said. This is a departure from the stance of incumbent US President Joe Biden, who on several occasions expressed resolutely that he would commit US troops in the event of a conflict in
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
RSS