Two hundred US lawmakers in a letter on Wednesday called for Taiwan’s participation in the planned Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), touting the nation’s economic importance and the signal of support it would send to counter Chinese intimidation.
The letter, drafted by the four cochairs of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus and addressed to US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪), said that Taiwan should be “at the front of the line” to join the framework.
US President Joe Biden in October last year proposed the IPEF to boost economic cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
The move is considered to be Washington’s latest effort at countering growing Chinese influence in the region in the wake of its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2017.
Calling the reasons for including Taiwan “compelling,” the letter outlined the nation’s strengths as a major Indo-Pacific economy.
It not only served as the eighth-largest trading partner to the US last year with US$114 billion in total volume, but has also aided in diversifying the US supply chain away from overdependence on the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the letter said.
It also highlighted economic engagement with Taiwan through the US-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue — which covers topics similar to those considered for the IPEF — and the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF), which also includes Japan and Australia as full partners.
Other regional economies should also welcome Taiwan’s participation, considering its active membership in APEC since 1991, and facilitation of trade and investment liberalization, it said.
Taiwan’s expertise in inviting thousands of participants to the GCTF “would also enhance the likelihood of a successful outcome of the IPEF deliberations,” it added.
“For these reasons alone, we believe that Taiwan should be at the front of the line to be invited to participate in the IPEF,” it said. “Taiwan’s inclusion would also send a clear signal that the United States stands with its allies and partners, and will not be bullied by the PRC.”
“Mindful of Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, it is critically important for the United States to unequivocally support Taiwan as it confronts an increasingly bellicose PRC,” it said. “Taiwan’s admission to the IPEF would be an essential step in demonstrating America’s resolve to protect, defend and strengthen that key partnership.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked the bipartisan group of lawmakers for their support.
Taiwan participates in regional economic affairs, and is committed to deepening economic ties with the US and other like-minded partners, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS