Taiwan and the US should negotiate a bilateral trade agreement, Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said on Monday during a virtual conference hosted by the Atlantic Council, a US think tank.
Taiwan and the US last month held the Taiwan-US Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, and on Sept. 17 signed the Framework to Strengthen Infrastructure, Finance and Market Cooperation.
These actions show that both sides have taken an important step to improve bilateral economic relations, Hsiao said.
Photo from the Taiwan in the US Facebook page
“Both Taiwan and the US will continue to expand cooperation in terms of the supply chain, telecommunications, health and the high-tech industry,” she said.
Taiwan and the US have mutually complementary economies as demonstrated by Taiwanese firms manufacturing parts for Apple Inc and Tesla, Hsiao said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated that certain countries cannot be trusted, underscoring the necessity for Taiwan and the US to establish reliable supply-chain networks with trustworthy partners for 5G networks, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and other issues, she said.
Taiwan’s national security is an integral part of regional stability and peace, Hsiao said.
Heritage Foundation senior analyst Riley Walters told the conference that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) decision to relax restrictions on US pork and beef has removed obstacles to trade talks.
The Taiwan-US Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue is far more significant than a trade deal, as the dialogue partially transcends trade policy differences and explores the tangible collaborations both sides can pursue, Walters said.
This is far more important to Taiwan, which is being sidelined by many regional trade agreements, he said.
Citing the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership on Nov. 15 and the willingness of its signatory countries to become part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, it is of utmost importance that Taiwan and the US take measures to strengthen bilateral economic ties, Hsiao said.
Taiwan is ready and willing to join the trade frameworks, but due to geopolitical strategic concerns, it faces an arduous and bumpy road, she said.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
RSS