Iowa’s deputy governor is planning a trade mission to Taiwan, an announcement that comes less than three months after Missouri Governor Jay Nixon was allegedly forced to cancel a similar visit to Taiwan following threats of economic reprisals from China.
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds announced plans on Monday to make two trade promotion trips to Asia this year. According to the announcement, Branstad will visit South Korea and China in June, while Reynolds will visit Japan and Taiwan in September.
Both have invited Iowa companies, farmers, organizations and the media to accompany them.
A spokesman for Branstad said he did not know if any consideration had been given to possible threats from Beijing.
Iowa, an agricultural powerhouse, is a key state in the US electoral system because it is the first to hold both Democratic and Republican presidential caucuses. The winners of the Iowa caucuses automatically become the presidential frontrunners. As a result, the state is considered to be one of the most politically powerful and holds considerable sway.
The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) signed an agreement with Taiwan in 2009 to sell Taipei between 110 million and 118 million bushels of soybeans last year and this year for between US$1.35 billion and US$1.4 billion.
ISA chief executive Kirk Leeds said at the time that the deal reflected the long-term friendship between Taiwan and Iowa “in freedom, democracy and trade.”
He said the deal showed the continued commitment of the Taiwan soybean crushing and feed industry to purchase and use US soybeans.
“As the fourth-largest export market for US soybeans, Taiwan remains an important market for Iowa. We appreciate the friendships and business relationships that the US has enjoyed with Taiwan since 1949,” Leeds said.
Reynolds said there were massive opportunities in Asia to increase Iowa’s exports, particularly in pork and soybeans.
On Dec. 1, Nixon announced he would bring a trade delegation to Taiwan. Soon afterwards he scrapped the plan when a Chicago-based Chinese diplomat warned the trip could imperil a project by China to turn St Louis airport into a hub for Chinese cargo in the US.
During a visit to Taipei in late January, American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt said Chinese pressure on Nixon was unacceptable and inconsistent with Beijing’s claims it sought to improve ties with Taipei.
Eight US governors have visited Taiwan over the past two years.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS