US President Joe Biden would not yield on issues about Taiwan during his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of an APEC summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday.
The two leaders “will definitely talk about Taiwan, but Biden will not give in on Taiwan issues,” National Taiwan University associate professor of political science Chen Shih-min (陳世民) said.
The Biden administration has repeatedly emphasized that it hopes to maintain communication channels between the heads of state and the militaries of the US and China to help Xi understand US thinking through direct, face-to-face dialogue, Chen said.
Photo: AP
The effort is aimed at preventing conflicts from escalating due to misunderstandings and incidents such as the collision between a US and a Chinese aircraft over the South China Sea in 2001, he said.
Leading up to the US presidential election next year, the Democrats and Republicans would take tougher stances on China, he said.
Biden, who is seeking re-election, is unlikely to show weakness toward China and is expected to maintain his position — opposing any unilateral action by either side of the Taiwan Strait to alter the “status quo,” he said.
Relations between the US and China are unlikely to achieve a breakthrough, he said.
The US might seem to be more proactive in facilitating a meeting with Xi, but Beijing needs Washington more at this time, economically and politically, Chen said.
One of the main reasons China is facing economic stagnation is a huge decline in foreign investment due to concerns over a US-China technology dispute and Beijing’s anti-espionage legislation, he said.
China hopes that the Xi-Biden meeting shows signs of easing tensions between the countries, which would help Beijing win back foreign investments, he said.
It is believed that anti-Xi factions criticize the Chinese leader for the deterioration of US-China relations, so bolstering ties with Washington through the meeting might help Xi’s political reputation domestically, he said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) is to attend the summit as President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) envoy for the sixth time, with some experts speculating that he might meet with Biden on the sidelines of the summit.
Chang spoke with US Vice President Kamala Harris on the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Bangkok last year.
TSMC is playing an important role in the chip supply chain, and has invested and set up a fab in the US, the host of this year’s summit.
Taiwan is striving to arrange for Chang to meet Biden, a Taiwanese official said.
Senior Taiwanese officials participating in the summit include Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), who is in charge of economic and trade negotiations, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) and Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲).
The first agreement under the US-Taiwan 21st Century Trade Initiative has been signed and the second stage of negotiations, which focus on agriculture, labor and the environment, are under way, Deng said.
The second stage is unlikely to be completed by the end of the year as originally planned, Deng said, adding that he hoped to meet US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) during the summit to check on the progress.
Members of APEC largely overlap with those of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), so Taiwan could take advantage of the summit to hold bilateral meetings with CPTPP member states to solicit their support for Taipei’s bid to join the bloc, a Taiwanese official said.
The recently completed negotiation of the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between Taiwan and Canada, which is to chair the CPTPP next year, might also help with the effort, the official said.
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
ENROLLMENT STRATEGIES: NTNU focuses on English instruction to attract foreign students, and helps them with employment and internships, its president said The number of foreign students in the nation’s colleges and universities hit a five-year high last year, with National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) topping the list with the most international students, Ministry of Education data showed. Last year, 123,188 international students attended Taiwanese colleges and universities, 3,259 more than the previous academic year, the data showed. NTNU had the most international students, with 7,648 students, followed by the National Taiwan University’s 6,249, it showed. NTNU yesterday said that international students accounted for 12.05 percent of its degree students last year. The percentage of overseas Chinese students at the university has also been the highest
RSS