Officials from Taiwan and the US held a sixth round of talks under the Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue (EPPD) in Washington yesterday and signed a pact agreeing to the principles of "Pax Silica."
The meeting was led on the US side by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg, while Taiwan was represented by Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), the US Department of State said in a statement.
Photo: Reuters
The talks covered topics that included supply chain security, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence, as well as cooperation on uncrewed aircraft system component certification, support for trusted digital infrastructure and cooperation on critical minerals, the statement said.
Discussions also focused on "highlighting progress in responding to economic coercion, pursuing mutual cooperation in third countries and addressing tax-related barriers to increase investment between the United States and Taiwan," the department said.
Taiwan and US representatives also signed a joint statement endorsing the principles of the Pax Silica Declaration, the statement said.
"Pax Silica" is a US-led initiative focused on coordinating trusted supply chains for advanced technologies, whose initial eight signatories (now 11) did not include Taiwan, the world's leading producer of advanced semiconductors.
Upon its launch last month, Helberg said Taiwan had been involved and made contributions to the initiative, and that planners expected to roll out "several new members" in the first quarter of this year.
"Give us a little bit of room to let sensitive conversations unfold on a bilateral basis," Helberg told a Taiwan-based reporter at the time, who asked if there was a pathway for Taiwan to be brought in as a full participant.
Asked yesterday for an update on Taiwan's potential membership, Helberg said the signing of a joint statement was a "major milestone," but did not provide a timeframe for entry.
The EPPD framework was launched in November 2020 near the end of US President Donald Trump's first term, and continued during the administration of former US president Joe Biden.
Yesterday marked the sixth set of meetings under the EPPD framework, and the first since Trump returned to office in January last year.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS