Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said more Asian nations will be inclined to forge trade pacts with Taiwan if it secures such a deal with his city-state first, local media said yesterday.
Lee, in an interview with the Chinese-language China Times, said the two sides hope to sort out details for the planned deal within “the next few months.”
Taiwan and Singapore announced in July that they would hold talks later this year on a trade agreement, the first such negotiations since Taipei sealed a major trade deal with China.
“Our selling point is that if [Taiwan] has cooperation with Singapore, other countries will ponder hard: ‘If Singapore is doing this, are we going to lag behind if we are not following?’” he said.
Lee said Singapore, a leading member of ASEAN, was ahead of other nations in the bloc in signing trade deals with major economies such as the US and Japan.
However, the pact issue was still “sensitive” for Taiwan despite its warming ties with China, he said.
Taiwan “has to ensure that cross-strait ties are not affected when it walks out [onto the international stage]. I believe Taiwan will carefully consider this factor,” Lee said, adding that Beijing is keeping an eye on the matter.
Taiwan has free-trade agreements with Panama, Guatemala and Nicaragua and has been pushing to forge tie-ups with other major trading partners. Such talks were bogged down, largely due to pressure from Beijing.
Singapore is Taiwan’s sixth-largest trading partner.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
RSS