The US is to “engage virtually every country” in the region in creating the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday, as he dismissed concerns that Washington had shut the door on Taiwan.
At a hearing of the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, US Representative Ann Wagner asked Blinken whether Taiwan was being excluded from joining the IPEF, an initiative proposed by US President Joe Biden last year with the aim of enhancing its economic engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.
“I am particularly concerned that Taiwan is being shut out of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, even though the administration may try to kind of hide this by never formally closing the doors, so to speak, to participation; Taiwan’s offer to become a full member is not being accepted,” Wagner said.
Photo: AFP
Wagner said the policy to deny Taiwan’s participation in the IPEF is “self-defeating and dangerous” given that it was the US’ eighth-largest trading partner last year and one of its largest trading partners in Asia.
Blinken said “there is no such policy” to exclude Taiwan.
“There is nothing that is closing the door on anyone, including Taiwan,” he added.
The US has just started the process of launching the IPEF, including beginning conversations with a number of countries as potential partners, Blinken said.
“It’s going to be open, it’s going to be inclusive and I imagine we’re going to be engaging virtually every country in the region,” he added.
Wagner said that Taiwan had made it clear to the US in recent bilateral talks that becoming a full member of the IPEF is its “No. 1 and top request,” and Taipei has changed national laws in anticipation of starting free-trade negotiations.
She urged Blinken to send more reaffirming messages to Taiwan.
“As a rule of law, democracy and a top global trading partner, Taiwan should certainly be a top priority for the framework,” Wagner said. “But instead, this administration is marginalizing Taiwan and showing the Chinese Communist Party that the United States is deterred from working with a critical partner.”
Similar concerns have been raised by other US lawmakers.
A bipartisan group of 200 US representatives on March 30 published a letter addressed to US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) to petition for Taiwan’s inclusion in the IPEF.
Reuters cited unnamed sources in a March 31 story as saying that Raimondo told a closed-door meeting of the US Senate Finance Committee the week before that the administration was not considering Taiwan’s inclusion at this time.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique