The nation’s representative to the US Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) has expressed confidence in the nation’s bid to join the proposed US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), based on Taiwan’s levels of trade and economic strength.
Taiwan is among the top 10 of the US’ 224 trade and economic partners, Shen said in a speech at the 40th annual convention of the Chinese American Academic and Professional Society in New York on Saturday.
He also said that Taiwan purchased products worth US$13 billion from the US last year, while China’s procurements from the US totaled US$56 billion. The latter figure might be 4.35 times that of the former, but China is 256 times the size of Taiwan geographically and in terms of population, China is 58 times larger, Shen said.
Regarding the prospects for Taiwan’s TPP bid, Shen said: “We have confidence,” adding that senior US officials have said many times they would welcome Taiwan joining the regional economic bloc should it be established.
Taiwan has continued to improve its trade and economic conditions so that they meet the requirements for being part of the TPP, Shen said.
“The degree of our liberalization has been very high,” Shen said.
Many academics and experts expect China to be the biggest barrier to the nation joining the TPP and Shen said that China would be the one to decide whether Taiwan’s TPP bid is successful.
However, he said that Taiwan’s joining the economic bloc would be beneficial to Beijing, as there are now many Taiwanese businesses operating in China.
“The mainland is not so great that it can block us every step of the way, telling you not to go somewhere or not to join some organizations. In many cases it is not that competent,” Shen said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS