Taiwan can make a greater contribution to regional development and recovery through membership in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told a security forum yesterday.
Taipei officially applied to join the Tokyo-led trade bloc in September, “fully demonstrating its determination” to integrate into regional trade networks, she said.
The nation is prepared to further secure supply chains and work with like-minded partners to advance the post-pandemic recovery, she added.
Photo: CNA
Tsai made the comments at the opening ceremony for the Taiwan-US-Japan Trilateral Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue in Taipei. The annual forum is in its 10th year.
In a prerecorded message, Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council Chairman Keiji Furuya told the forum that his country supports Taiwan’s bid to join the CPTPP.
“Japan firmly supports the application by the ROC [Republic of China], as one of our truly vital partners, to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP] trade agreement,” he said in English, calling the trade bloc by its former name.
Photo: Taipei Times
“In moving to help negotiate Taiwanese membership in the TPP, we eagerly look forward to the resolution of a number of related issues. Among them, the ROC ban on imports of food products from a total of five Japanese prefectures,” he added.
Following the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, the Taiwanese government imposed a ban on food imports from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba.
A referendum held in November 2018 urged the government to maintain the ban, but the vote result is only legally binding for two years.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the break in diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Japan, while 2023 will mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, Furuya said, looking to further deepen bilateral bonds.
Scott Busby, acting principal deputy assistant secretary in the US Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, also voiced support for Taiwan and praised its democracy.
“It is remarkable how far Taiwan has come in less than 30 years from that time [of authoritarian rule], showing the world how to build and sustain a democratic society. It shows that democracy can thrive in Asia, despite some who claim to the contrary,” Busby said.
Taiwan’s participation in last week’s Summit for Democracy hosted by US President Joe Biden was significant evidence of Taiwan’s leading role in this regard, he said.
Busby went on to praise Taiwan’s leading global role in economic issues, healthcare, digital literacy and overall prosperity, as well as its role in combating disinformation.
Former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien also addressed the forum.
Commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the event was organized by the Prospect Foundation, the Center for a New American Security and the Japan Institute of International Affairs.
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