Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) discussed opportunities to deepen economic ties in the same week China’s top diplomat warned Washington that it is heading down the “wrong road” with its support for Taiwan.
Deng and Tai “discussed opportunities to deepen the economic relationship, advance mutual trade priorities based on shared values, and promote innovation and inclusive economic growth for their workers and businesses,” the Office of the US Trade Representative said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.
They met in Bangkok yesterday on the sidelines of a gathering of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers.
Photo: CNA
The pair “directed their teams to explore concrete ways to deepen the US-Taiwan trade and investment relationship, and to meet again in the coming weeks to discuss the path forward,” the US statement said.
They had previously met virtually at least twice, including last month, since Tai became the trade representative in March last year.
The meeting comes as US President Joe Biden is on a five-day trip to Asia, where he is seeking to increase engagement with regional allies to face the economic and security challenges posed by China.
Earlier this week, more than 50 US senators wrote to Biden urging him to include Taiwan as a partner in the proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that his administration plans to roll out during the trip.
The Taiwanese delegation restated Taipei’s long-held goal of signing a free-trade agreement with the US, Deng said in a telephone interview.
“The meeting showed the US has a strong commitment to finding a path forward in a very concrete way to developing our economic ties together,” he said, describing the meeting as “very positive.”
Fourteen Chinese military aircraft on Friday flew into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, the Ministry of National Defense said on its Web site.
Beijing frequently uses such activity to signal its displeasure with official interactions between Taiwan and the US.
The US has stepped up its backing for Taiwan since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, with a group of senior senators, including US Senator Lindsey Graham, visiting last month.
China responded to that trip by conducting air and naval training near Taiwan.
Figures on both sides of the Pacific have raised the possibility of allowing Taiwan to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the Biden administration’s key initiative to counter China’s influence in Asia.
The two sides did not touch upon the framework during yesterday’s meeting, as the US trade office is not yet authorized to discuss Taiwan’s participation, Deng said.
In a telephone call with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan this week, Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪), Beijing’s top diplomat, said that if the US “insists on playing the Taiwan card, and goes further and further down the wrong road, it will certainly lead the situation to a dangerous point.”
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