The nation should learn to be “hyper-aggressive” about trade and not be “fretting constantly” over China, a Washington conference was told on Monday.
The nation should be a “global trader” seeking partnerships with big countries like India and Brazil, said Derek Scissors, a resident academic at the American Enterprise Institute.
Addressing a Hudson Institute conference on “US-Taiwan Economic Relations,” Scissors said the now-being-negotiated Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) could be a “wonderful way” for Taiwan to overcome its international isolation.
There was no question that the TPP offered major potential opportunities to Taiwan, but the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should be doing more to win membership, he said.
He said the administration’s comments about joining the TPP in eight or 10 years sounded “silly.”
Scissors said that while the TPP had great potential benefits for the nation, it also had large economic risks.
If the TPP is launched in the near future and is a weak agreement, it could undermine US strength in Asia, leaving Taiwan with fewer options and friends who were less powerful.
Or, if the TPP evolves into a stable agreement and Taiwan is not a member, the nation will be left behind.
“It’s wonderful that Taiwan wants to join TPP, but that is not a response,” Scissors said.
He said a response would be to change policies and hold active negotiations on joining within one month of the agreement going into effect.
“Taiwan has not responded adequately to TPP,” he said.
“It should be doing all that it can to get ready to join — changes need to be made now so that Taiwan can jump to the front of the TPP line,” Scissors said.
Instead, the nation was boasting about its importance and putting on “a road show,” he said.
“I can see us standing here in 2020 still wondering about Taiwanese TPP membership, and that would be dangerous,” he said.
Scissors said it would be a sign of interest and good faith — and would speed up the process — if Taiwan moved now to liberalize its agricultural sector.
“Agriculture would be a great area for Taiwan to show how serious it is about joining TPP,” Scissors said. “The more Taiwan gets itself into position on the critical issues, the more it can stand out from the crowd and show that it can make difficult liberalizing steps.”
Patrick Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said that Taiwan was being squeezed out and left with an uncertain picture of its future.
He said that economics were the underpinning of security and that Taiwan needed to protect itself militarily, buy more space for diplomacy and trade, and ensure it had diversified global relationships.
“Without a balanced economic strategy and sufficient political space, Taiwan will simply be absorbed,” Cronin said.
“It will be absorbed within the next couple of decades,” he added.
Cronin said that the TPP was going to be the decisive trading framework across the Asia-Pacific and that it was “vital” for Taiwan to join.
“This is an urgent matter for action now and not some distant point in the future,” he said. “It is really a matter of political will for Taiwan to take the steps necessary.”
He said that Taiwan should use the TPP framework negotiations — scheduled to conclude soon — to spur domestic reform and trade liberalization.
Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office senior executive economic officer William Liu (劉威廉) said that over the past six decades, Taiwanese had created an economic miracle from scratch.
There was a “profound friendship” between Taiwan and the US, and Taiwan treasured the relationship and wanted to develop it further, he said.
However, there were some “worrisome signs” that the two economies were becoming decoupled, Liu said.
“Taiwan’s participation in the TPP would greatly enhance US-Taiwan relations,” Liu said.
“Taiwan has made a magnificent contribution to regional security and stability. What better friend in the Asia-Pacific region does America have?” he added.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”
RSS