Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) on Monday held a virtual meeting with US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai (戴琪) to discuss bilateral trade issues.
During the videoconference, Deng, who serves as the Taiwan’s top trade negotiator, expressed the hope that Taiwan and the US would begin talks on a bilateral trade agreement, an official in the Cabinet’s Office of Trade Negotiations told the Central News Agency yesterday on condition of anonymity.
The official declined to comment on whether the bilateral discussions touched on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), an initiative proposed last year by the US government with the aim of enhancing its economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.
Photo: Taipei Times / AFP
Nor was it mentioned in a readout provided by the USTR.
In Monday’s meeting, the two sides reviewed progress made on bilateral trade issues since a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) council meeting in June last year, and agreed to remain in contact on those and other issues in the coming months, the readout said.
“They also discussed their mutual interest in working together on issues of common concern, including regionally and in multilateral organizations like the World Trade Organization,” the readout added.
The IPEF has yet to be clearly defined, but according to a US Congressional Research Service report, US officials do not envision it taking the form of a traditional trade agreement.
Instead, it is to include different modules covering “fair and resilient trade, supply chain resilience, infrastructure and decarbonization, and tax and anticorruption,” the report said.
Taipei has expressed an interest in participating in the IPEF initiative.
However, at a US Senate hearing at the end of last month, Tai was unwilling to comment on whether Taiwan would be invited to join the planned IPEF, saying only that the matter had yet to be decided.
Deng and Tai held their first bilateral meeting in June last year, shortly before the TIFA council meeting, which included high-level trade and investment talks between the two countries.
During the TIFA council meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral trade issues such as supply chains, intellectual property and agriculture, while exploring opportunities to work together on tackling the climate change crisis, the USTR added.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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