Taiwan's new deputy representative in Washington, John Deng (
Deng made his debut on Thursday at the monthly "tea party" press conference held by de facto ambassador David Lee (
In Taipei last week before taking up his new post, Deng said that the "message was clear" -- the Taiwanese government needed to dedicate greater effort in economic reforms to make an FTA more palatable to Washington and get FTA talks started.
Deng, an economist whose last posting was as Taiwan's deputy representative to the WTO in Geneva, called this his "most important responsibility" in his new job.
While conceding during the press conference that he was not overly optimistic that an FTA will be signed over the next year or two, he said the important thing is to start the process.
He said it is important to distinguish between beginning and concluding the negotiating process.
"Number one is to start the negotiations. Second is to accomplish the whole negotiating process. For an FTA with an economy like Taiwan, you never know how long it will take for the negotiations to be completed," Deng told the Taipei Times. "But I think our effort is to start this process. That will be the focal point."
He said he aims to initiate discussions with the US Trade Representative's office, the State Department, Congress, and "whoever can help us to achieve this goal."
"The basic point is that an FTA with the United States is very important for Taiwan's economic future. So we have to make our best efforts to accomplish that goal," he said.
He said he wants to achieve this, "as soon as possible."
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