US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez said in Taipei yesterday that he would back Taiwan’s accession to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), “provided that Taiwan is willing to support a high-standard, comprehensive agreement” to address various issues, such as labor and environment, currency manipulation and intellectual property rights.
He said the issues were “critical elements” of the proposed pact.
The senator delivered a speech titled “The Future of US-Taiwan Relations” at a luncheon hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei yesterday, the second day of his three-day visit.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
While applauding some of the reforms Taiwan has made to open up its public procurement market after becoming a member of the WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement in 2009, Menendez said that “some US firms continue to encounter problems relating to transparency, contract terms and conditions, licensing and liability.”
He also said he was concerned about the restrictions imposed on foreign investors in agricultural production, chemical manufacturing, public utility, transportation, telecommunications, high-speed rail and a natural gas pipeline.
With the resumption of bilateral talks under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in March, Menendez said he was confident that the US and Taiwan could continue to work together to solve the challenges of “a fully open and transparent relationship.”
Menendez said he had talked to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) by telephone, and Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) at separate meetings earlier in the day, saying he “looked forward to strengthening our economic partnership” under the TIFA platform.
Taiwan and the US set up a “working group on investment” during the TIFA negotiations in March to further explore issues under a bilateral investment agreement (BIA), in addition to a “working group on technical barriers to trade.”
Menendez said he had conveyed his “strong support” for a US-Taiwan BIA to US Trade Representative Michael Froman.
Over the years, Washington and Taipei have made tremendous progress in deepening bilateral relationships, Menendez said, citing the inclusion of Taiwan in the US visa waiver program, the resumption of TIFA talks, security cooperation and US legislation in support of Taiwan’s participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization as an observer, which he authored.
Menendez said that constructive and strategic US engagement in Asia was in the interests of all nations in the region and would help create a mutually beneficial future for both the US and Taiwan, as well as for the world.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Menendez’s visit to Taipei is the first by the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee since US Vice President Joe Biden visited in 2001.
Menendez’s trip to Asia is his first since becoming chairman of the committee in January.
He had meetings yesterday with Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平). Officials who were present at those meetings said Menendez brought up issues related to the controversy over the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the government’s policy to turn the army into an all-volunteer force and security-related matters.
The senator was also scheduled to meet with Minister of National Defense Yen Ming (嚴明).
Menendez leaves Taiwan today.
TOO TIRED: Investigators found that the pilot’s lack of alertness could be attributed to a lack of sleep the previous night, when he had slept with his child It was a copilot’s inappropriate operation of the aircraft and the pilot’s insufficient alertness that led to a hard landing of a China Airlines cargo flight on Dec. 13, 2018, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board said yesterday. Flight CI6844, a Boeing 747-409 which departed from Hong Kong International Airport, landed on the pre-threshold area of runway L5 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, about 21m before the head of the runway, an investigation report said. The hard landing damaged three runway lights, but none of the personnel on board sustained any injuries, the report said. When approaching the runway, the copilot failed to maintain
DISTRUST WARRANTED? The WHO is under China’s control and has become a useless organization, while data from China cannot be trusted, a Control Yuan member said China’s demand that the novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, not be referred to with names like the “Wuhan pneumonia” betrays its lack of confidence in itself, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told lawmakers yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) asked Su, during a interpellation at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, for his view on China’s attempts to redeem its national image in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included China’s efforts to “bleach” its image, including having WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus publicly praise its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, and thanking it for buying time
REPEAT OFFENDER: The man went outside for exercise on Wednesday and then left his home on Saturday with his girlfriend, officials said A New Taipei City man has been fined NT$400,000 (US$13,221) and ordered into government quarantine after breaking home quarantine for a second time on Saturday. The 25-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳) returned to Taiwan on Sunday last week and was ordered to home quarantine until Sunday. He was seen leaving his home on a scooter with his girlfriend on Saturday, three days after he was fined NT$200,000 for going outside to exercise, police said. Chen has now been placed in a quarantine center arranged by the district office and health center of the district where he lives, police said. Police warned the public
Taipei residents who stay at hotels in the city during their 14-day mandatory quarantine period are eligible to apply for the city’s NT$7,000 subsidy, with online applications to be launched next week. Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) on Monday said Taipei residents who have COVID-19 Health Declaration and Home Quarantine Notice dated after March 19 and a quarantine hotel receipt for the dates covered by the quarantine period, would be eligible for the subsidy. The Taipei City Government on Sunday told the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) that so many city residents are under home quarantine that about 90 percent of
RSS