Taiwanese and US trade officials began a second round of talks in Taipei on Saturday under a recently launched trade initiative aimed at improving the overall bilateral trade environment.
Leading the two sides in the talks under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade are US Assistant Trade Representative Terry McCartin and Office of Trade Negotiations Deputy Trade Representative Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮).
McCartin arrived in Taipei on Friday with a delegation of more than 20 US officials, and attended a dinner later that day hosted by Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), Taiwan’s top trade negotiator, a Cabinet official familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The US delegates are not scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) or Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) due to “tight schedules,” the official said.
Few details have been revealed about this round of talks, but the Office of Trade Negotiations is expected to brief the public on its outcome after the negotiations conclude on Tuesday, the official said.
Speaking to local media yesterday morning, Deng said the government prepared well for this round of talks, and he is optimistic about progress.
Photo: CNA
He said that among the 11 issues outlined by the initiative, Taiwanese officials would focus on trade facilitation, the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises, effective regulatory practices and anti-corruption measures.
The goal of the government continues to be that the two sides can “reach some high-standard and economically meaningful agreements” by the end of this year, Deng said.
Under the initiative launched in June last year, bilateral negotiations are also expected on trade issues related to agriculture, state-owned enterprises, nonmarket policies and practices, digital trade, standards, labor and the environment.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations
However, the initiative does not cover tariff reductions.
The talks in Taipei follow two days of meetings held in New York in November last year, at which McCartin and Yang also served as the lead officials for the US and Taiwan respectively.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS