The US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade might encourage other nations to deepen economic ties with Taiwan after they see the progress of the talks between Taipei and Washington, Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) said yesterday during an interview with talk show host Frances Huang (黃光芹).
Deng’s comments came after the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Tuesday issued a request for comment from interested parties on the initiative, a bilateral platform for trade talks between Taiwan and the US announced on Wednesday last week after Taipei did not receive an invitation to join the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
Some have criticized the initiative as vapid, saying that the US and Taiwan should directly pursue a bilateral free-trade agreement, Deng told Huang on her online news program.
Photo: screen grab from the Internet
However, the initiative is the process needed to reach that goal, Deng said, equating the initiative to a newly announced engagement.
“You cannot get married and have kids tomorrow,” he added.
The announcement of the initiative on the USTR’s Web site on Tuesday shows that Washington is taking the issue seriously, Deng said.
The US government knows that the initiative is an important catalyst for any future accords, he said, adding that the formal launch of the initiative makes it unlikely that the US would back away from the deal.
However, Deng cautioned against optimism regarding the success of the talks, saying that international negotiations are time consuming.
Other countries have shied away from deepening trade ties with Taiwan due to Chinese pressure, but if the talks with the US go smoothly, “the international community will learn” and might decide to follow suit, he said.
Responding to former premier Sean Chen’s (陳沖) comments that the initiative is targeting Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, Deng said that Chen was overthinking the matter.
No nation, including the US, can move Taiwan’s semiconductor industry elsewhere, Deng said, adding that if such things were possible, it would have already been acted upon.
Taiwan-US trade talks would not persuade the nation’s chipmakers to relocate, Deng added.
The initiative lists 11 items for negotiation, each with concrete goals and contents that are to be publicized, he said.
Deng said he concurred with Chen’s point that reaching Taiwan’s goals would not be easy, as USTR Katherine Tai (戴琪) and her team are tough negotiators.
Chen had said he was concerned for the Taiwanese delegation when he learned they would be going up against Tai.
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