Taiwan and the US are set to resume negotiations on economic issues under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) after a three-year hiatus.
The decision was finalized after a delegation of officials from the Office of the US Trade Representative, the US Department of Commerce and the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) Washington headquarters met with Taiwanese officials in Taipei during a two-day visit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In a press release issued yesterday morning, the AIT said: “The two sides are working to finalize mutually agreeable dates for the [TIFA] meeting and are targeting late 2010 or early 2011.”
The two sides “began discussions about the agenda for the TIFA, and agreed to have follow-up expert-level discussions on a range of issues and initiatives in the months leading up to the TIFA Trade and Investment Council meeting,” the press statement said.
Led by US Assistant Trade Representative for China Affairs Claire Reade, the US delegation discussed the full range of economic issues important to both sides during the visit, including how to broaden and deepen the strong bilateral trade and economic relationship under the auspices of TIFA, the AIT said, adding that Reade “reaffirmed the importance of the US-Taiwan bilateral economic relationship.”
The new round of TIFA Trade and Investment Council meetings will be chaired by Deputy Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis on the US side and Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Francis Liang (梁國欣) on the Taiwanese side.
Liang told the press yesterday that the US delegation also visited the Council of Agriculture Affairs and the Department of Health, exchanging ideas with officials on agricultural trade, investment, pharmaceutical pricing, product standards, environmental protection, electronic commerce, enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR), medical equipment trade and industry cooperation.
Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director--general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of North American Affairs, said both sides made “positive progress” during their meetings as they managed to narrow disagreements on existing bilateral issues.
The TIFA was established in September 1994 to resolve bilateral trade issues and enhance economic cooperation, with both sides taking turns hosting meetings once or twice a year.
Since 1998, the US has suspended the bilateral talks several times to express its dissatisfaction with Taiwan’s slow progress in IPR protection, pharmaceutical pricing and the opening up of its rice and telecommunications markets.
The latest suspension was in July 2007, when Taiwan failed to strike a deal with the US to completely open up its beef market in line with guidelines from the World Animal Health Organization.
Last October, Taiwan agreed to allow the import of US bone-in beef after signing the Taiwan-US beef protocol, paving the way for the resumption of talks, but it was then pushed back after the legislature banned imports of ground beef, offal and other beef parts.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) yesterday said the resumption of the TIFA talks indicated that the beef issue has taken a back seat to other economic and trade issues of mutual concern that could be dealt with under the framework.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS