Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) yesterday joined the trade ministers of 20 other APEC member states in a virtual conference and called for disease prevention materials to be exchanged through bilateral agreements.
APEC has 21 members, including Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, New Zealand and the US. Taiwan joined the organization under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
The Virtual APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting was chaired by Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali, APEC said in a news release yesterday.
Photo provided by the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations
Yesterday’s meeting focused on how to maintain free and open trade and investment mechanisms amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said in a news release.
While the 21 members are in eight different time zones, the countries’ ministers still joined the important discussion, it said.
During the meeting, Deng highlighted Taiwan’s outstanding performance in controlling the pandemic, saying that the nation still had a GDP growth rate of 1.6 percent despite the pandemic.
Without locking down cities or suspending classes and business operations, Taiwan did not report large-scale community infections, he said.
Over the past few months, Taiwan has been able to operate normally, and had the capacity to provide other countries with medical supplies, showing that “Taiwan can help,” he added.
Nonetheless, no single country can claim itself a “winner” when is comes to the pandemic, Deng said.
Taiwan is happy to boost cooperation with other countries to tackle future challenges, he said.
Protecting people’s health should be a principle that is prioritized, and after that, governments should manage to maintain the circulation of critical materials, he said.
The trade ministers issued a joint statement after the virtual meeting.
“We acknowledge the importance of a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent and predictable trade and investment environment to drive economic recovery at such a challenging time,” the statement on APEC’s Web site read.
“We are committed to ensure that emergency measures designed to tackle COVID-19 are targeted, proportionate, transparent, temporary, do not create unnecessary barriers to trade or disruption to global supply chains, and are consistent with WTO rules,” it said.
The ministers also highlighted the need to establish a digital platform for information exchange and the needs to empower all sectors of the community, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, while reiterating their concern about the pandemic’s impact on vulnerable developing economies.
They also issued a declaration on facilitating the flow of essential goods, which included that emergency trade measures designed to tackle COVID-19 must be consistent with WTO rules and that member economies are expected to abide by the International Health Regulations of 2005.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as