A senior US trade official is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan next month to restart high-level talks to settle trade disputes that have bedeviled bilateral relations for the past several years.
Assistant US trade representative Charles Freeman will arrive in Taipei in the third week of July, according to members of a delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham), who are in Washington for an annual set of meetings with US officials, members of Congress and think tanks.
Freeman had been scheduled to arrive this month, but scheduling problems caused a delay.
High-level trade talks were suspended early last year by the US, who complained that no progress was being made in getting Taiwan to reduce intellectual property piracy and end trade barriers criticized by Washington.
In a speech last month in which he first raised the possibility of the trip, Freeman cited recent progress made by Taipei in responding to US objections in areas such as pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and rice imports.
But Freeman also said that the two sides remained at loggerheads over how to deal with piracy of intellectual property.
AmCham executive director Richard Vuylsteke told reporters that his group had found an improvement in the "tone" of Taiwan's policies on trade with the US since the presidential election in March.
The clearest indication of this, he said, was a meeting AmCham members held last Friday with Premier Yu Shyi-kun, which was also attended by all Cabinet members with portfolios related to the economy. Later, Yu gave the Cabinet members "assignments" to deal with the issues raised by the US representatives in the meeting.
The meeting was "symbolic of a different attitude" in the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration compared with before the election, Vuylsteke said.
"My impression from the premier is that they are working hard to make sure" that Freeman's visit is "a productive one," Vuylsteke said. "A lot of eyes will be on the success of that visit."
COPYRIGHT LAW
Another key issue is the new Copyright Law (著作權法), which was watered down at the last minute last year and which, in the opinion of the US, must be strengthened.
The Executive Yuan had been "blindsided" by the late amendments and many legislators who voted for it were not aware of the implications, Vuylsteke said.
If a new, tougher law is enacted and Freeman's visit is successful, that may help Taiwan in its efforts to be removed from the "watch list" of intellectual property violators under the US' "special 301" trade laws.
The US Trade Representative office will conduct a review of the situation this fall.
However, Vuylsteke said, that would be "a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one."
free trade agreement
During last Friday's meeting, Yu urged the settting up of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Taipei and Washington and asked AmCham members to convey this to officials in Washington during the trip.
Vuylsteke said that in his meetings so far, "our sense was there is an interest way down the line for an FTA" among US officials. He said it was a "double goal," but would take a while.
"When we get down to the nitty gritty [of trade talks], working out the issues is going to take some real hard work on both sides," he said.
The delegation in Washington, headed by AmCham president Andrea Wu (王吳小珍), is meeting officials from the US Trade Representative Office, the Commerce Department, the State Department, the National Security Council and other agencies to discuss AmCham's latest publication on trade issues between the US and Taiwan -- the 2004 Taiwan White Paper.
In addition to the issues identified by the US, Vuylsteke raised the question of government procurement as a main concern of AmCham members.
US firms were being "cut out of the Taiwan infrastructure market" by Taiwan's procurement law, he said.
The US representatives are pushing the government to sign a Government Procurement Agreement under the WTO, which Taiwan has agreed to sign, though it has not yet done so.
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