Officials from the US and Taiwan plan to hold trade talks in Taipei this month, highlighting the expansion of ties between the two sides in the face of increasingly fraught relations with China.
The US would send a delegation led by US Assistant Trade Representative Terry McCartin and officials from other government agencies for four days of meetings scheduled to start on Saturday next week, a statement on Wednesday from the American Institute in Taiwan said.
Office of Trade Negotiations Deputy Trade Representative Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮) is to lead the Taiwanese side in the talks with input from government agencies, the Cabinet said in a statement.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Washington and Taipei have been forging closer ties as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) ramps up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on the nation.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) rejects the “one country, two systems” governance model Beijing proposes, and instead says that Taiwan is a de facto independent nation deserving greater global recognition.
Last year, China increased its incursions of warplanes into areas around the nation, dispatching about 1,700 flights, almost double the number in 2021.
It also held unprecedented military drills in August in response to a visit by then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first sitting US House speaker to visit Taipei in 25 years.
Last month, Taiwan announced plans to extend its compulsory military service to one year from four months, signaling to Beijing it is serious about defending itself.
Next week’s trade talks are part of the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade that was launched in June last year to reach an agreement in areas including trade facilitation and regulatory practices.
Officials held “conceptual discussions” in New York in November.
The initiative was announced weeks after US President Joe Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in May, a deal designed to counter China’s influence in the region that did not feature Taiwan, despite more than 50 senators urging its inclusion.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over
RSS