Democratic Progressive Party legislators yesterday said they sent letters to parliamentary leaders in the UK, New Zealand, Canada and Australia calling for Taiwan’s inclusion in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The lawmakers at a news conference exhibited the open letters from the Legislative Yuan’s CPTPP for Taiwan Committee showing that “Taiwan is ready to join the CPTPP.”
Committee chair Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said that joining the CPTPP would have great economic and strategic significance.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
If Taiwan were a part of the agreement, it could keep the regional supply chain going and safeguard regional economic security in the case of another chip shortage, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
The legislature would continue to engage in parliamentary outreach and work with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to persuade the 11 CPTPP founding members that Taiwan meets the criteria for membership, Chiu said.
Taiwan has an excellent opportunity to petition to join, with the chairs of the CPTPP from last year to next year being like-minded countries, MOFA Department of International Cooperation and Economic Affairs Director-General Vivian Lien (連玉蘋) said.
If the CPTPP adopts a first-come, first-serve principle, China’s application would be reviewed first, at which point China might attempt to drag out the process, Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said.
However, if the group first reviews more prepared countries, China’s position in the line would fall drastically, leaving Taiwan and other applicants ahead, Kuo added.
Separately yesterday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) reiterated calls for Taiwan to join the CPTPP, adding that the nation is prepared to be a part of a safer and more resilient supply chain alongside Japan and other regional countries.
Tsai was speaking at the opening of an annual Taiwan-Japan economic conference organized by the East Asia Economic Association.
Tsai said her pledge at the 2015 conference to increase Taiwan-Japan collaboration had been realized with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s establishment of a plant in Kumamoto Prefecture, and Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturers collaborating with Taiwanese counterparts.
Taiwan-Japan bilateral trade exceeded US$75 billion, up nearly 26 percent from 2016, while mutual investment has exceeded US$38.6 billion, up by 41 percent, Tsai said.
Taiwan and Japan collaboration would not only focus on semiconductor supply chains, but could also involve artificial intelligence, digital services and efforts to transition to renewable energy.
Taiwan and Japan are intertwined culturally and economically and are both proponents of democracy, she said, adding that the two were neighbors with very close ties, and she hoped that Taiwan and Japan would continue to see another half-century of friendly relations.
TECH SECTOR: Nvidia Corp also announced its intent to build an overseas headquarters in Taiwan, with Taipei and New Taipei City each attempting to woo the US chipmaker The US-based Super Micro Computer Inc and Taiwan’s Guo Rui on Wednesday announced a joint venture to build a computation center powered only by renewable energy. After meeting with Supermicro founder Charles Liang (梁見後) and Guo Rui chairman Lin Po-wen (林博文), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) instructed a cross-ministry panel to be established to help promote the government’s green energy policies and facilitate efforts to obtain land for the generation of green power, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said. Cho thanked Liang for his company’s support of the government’s 2019 Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in
The unification of China and Taiwan is “non-negotiable,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said yesterday in response to an article by a Chinese academic suggesting that Beijing would not set a timetable for the annexation of Taiwan in the next four years. Chinese international studies researcher Yan Xuetong (閻學通) at Beijing’s Tsinghua University wrote in an article published last week in Foreign Affairs that China’s focus for the next four years would be revitalizing the economy, not preparing a timetable to invade Taiwan. The TAO said that was only the personal opinion of an academic. The Chinese Communist Party has since 1949 committed
China is likely to focus on its economy over the next four years and not set a timetable for attempting to annex Taiwan, a researcher at Beijing’s Tsinghua University wrote in an article published in Foreign Affairs magazine on Friday. In the article titled “Why China isn’t scared of Trump: US-Chinese tensions may rise, but his isolationism will help Beijing,” Chinese international studies researcher Yan Xuetong (閻學通) wrote that the US and China are unlikely to go to war over Taiwan in the next four years under US president-elect Donald Trump. While economic and military tensions between the US and China would
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said Thursday it had caught 124 people attempting to use forged documents to visit Taiwan since allowing Chinese nationals based overseas to apply for entry permits in September last year. The NIA’s revelation comes after unnamed immigration officials and travel agency workers cited in a CNA report Wednesday said that Chinese entry permit applicants had submitted forged documents showing they were students in Malaysia. After closing its borders to Chinese tourists on Jan. 22, 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan began allowing those living or studying outside of China to enter from a third country on Sept.
RSS