Issues in seven areas remain on the agenda for negotiations on the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade after the two sides signed an initial agreement on Thursday, Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) said.
Deng, Taiwan’s main trade negotiator, said in Washington that talks on labor, environmental and agricultural issues, digital trade, non-market policies and practices, state-owned enterprises and standards remained to be discussed.
During his closed-door talks with US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai (戴琪) at the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting in Detroit, Michigan, last month, it was agreed to begin the next round of negotiations as soon as possible, Deng said.
Photo courtesy of the Office of Trade Negotiations
However, because negotiating all seven topics at the same time could slow down the proceedings, Taiwan is likely to suggest that the two sides focus on environmental, labor and agricultural issues during the next round of negotiations, he said, adding that it was only a preliminary plan and the Office of Trade Negotiations would have to discuss this issue with the USTR.
While acknowledging that forthcoming negotiations would “not be easy,” Deng said the goals of the two sides were aligned.
Taiwan has a well-developed system for protecting workers and labor is an issue to which the US attaches a high level of importance, he said.
In the negotiating mandate for the talks established in August last year, the focus of labor negotiations was to adopt provisions that include protecting internationally recognized labor rights and holding the business community accountable for ensuring those rights, he said.
Talks on the environment should be relatively easy, as environmental protection is a shared goal of the two nations, Deng said.
The mandate envisions provisions that promote green businesses and decarbonization, strengthen environmental protections, including resource conservation, and establish information sharing mechanisms, he said.
The two nations are looking to increase their exports of agricultural products to each other and food safety is also an issue expected to be covered, he added.
In this area, the mandate calls for provisions that facilitate trade “through science and risk-based decisionmaking, and the adoption of sound, transparent regulatory practices” that support cooperation on food safety, Deng said.
As to whether the two sides could conclude the negotiations by the end of the year as the Office of Trade Negotiations hopes, Deng said it would depend on developments related to items on the two sides’ agendas.
In related news, the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Wednesday evening announced that it would create a consultative body for Taiwanese and US small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as was agreed in the initial agreement under the trade initiative.
The ministry said the entity would focus on providing Taiwanese and US SMEs with consultative services to offer them advice on development strategies and the challenges they would face when doing business, a statement said.
The service is to be staffed with experts on Taiwan’s trade with the US, as well as representatives from public foundations familiar with US affairs and SMEs that have proven results in their collaborations with the US, it said.
‘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
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS