A delegation led by US Deputy Assistant Trade Representative for China and Taiwan Affairs Eric Altbach held working-level meetings with their Taiwanese counterparts in Taipei on Wednesday and Thursday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Despite the continued suspension of dialogue under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), talks at a working level have been held regularly for both sides to exchange views on bilateral and regional issues, and cooperation under the APEC framework, Ministry of Economic Affairs Vice Minister Francis Liang (梁國新) said.
“We still hope that ministerial-level talks under the TIFA can resume as soon as possible, but that all depends on there being a mutual decision,” said Liang, who had just returned from San Francisco where he attended meetings to discuss advancing a new tariff-reduction initiative to expand coverage of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), known as ITA II.
The ITA II initiative, which the US hopes will be included in the APEC ministerial statement at this year’s summit in Hawaii next month, was among a wide range of issues discussed during two days of meetings, Liang said.
“As a major exporter of IT [Information Technology] products, of course Taiwan supports further trade liberalization in the sector,” he said.
Liang said the ministry explained to the US delegation why the government has yet to adopt a maximum residue level for ractopamine, a lean meat enhancing chemical prohibited in Taiwan, and that it promised to continue to educate the public about its health risks.
The government began testing US beef for ractopamine in January, which made the US push back the scheduled resumption of the TIFA negotiations, which had been suspended since 2007 in response to Taiwan banning imports of US beef over fears of mad cow disease.
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) spokesperson Christopher Kavanagh yesterday said the US delegation “again raised US concerns about Taiwan’s continuing failure to act on the basis of science with regard to its regulations affecting trade in beef and pork” at the meetings.
The US delegation was composed of officials from the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture and AIT Washington, the AIT said in a press release.
“During the visit, the two sides held constructive and wide-ranging discussions on a wide range of bilateral trade and economic issues of interest to both sides, including agricultural issues, IPR [intellectual property rights] enforcement, investment, services, pharmaceutical products and medical devices, standards, government procurement and other issues,” the AIT said.
It said the two sides also discussed multilateral economic issues, including how to enhance US-Taiwan cooperation to ensure a robust outcome at the upcoming APEC forum.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS