President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for increased economic and trade cooperation between Taiwan and the US, saying that it would benefit the people on both sides and ensure supply chain security.
“Deepening our connections in [trade and economics] will benefit people on both sides and ensure supply chain security,” Lai said ahead of a closed-door meeting with former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
In particular, Lai said he looked forward to seeing the issue of double taxation being resolved, as well as progress in the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade negotiations that were launched in June 2022.
Photo: CNA
Under the initiative, Taipei and Washington signed an initial agreement to streamline regulations on bilateral trade last year and have begun further talks on issues such as agriculture, labor and the environment.
Lai added that these efforts would “elevate bilateral economic and trade development to new heights” and pave the way for a bilateral trade agreement.
Trade aside, the president also reiterated his commitment to “bolstering Taiwan’s national defense and maintaining peace” in the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan would also work to deepen partnerships with the US and other democracies to enhance the nation’s strength, and contribute to regional peace and stability, he added.
Pottinger, who spoke in his capacity as a distinguished visiting fellow from the California-based Hoover Institution think tank, said that Taiwan must work out a strategy to deter China.
Taiwan’s security is “intimately tied to” that of the US, Japan and other countries in the Indo-Pacific region, he said, underscoring the need for “close coordination” to safeguard its security.
“Deterrence is cheaper than war,” said Pottinger, without going into detail on how Taiwan can achieve that.
Joined by Ivan Kanapathy, also a former US National Security Council official, Pottinger is visiting Taiwan for the launch of the Chinese edition of the book, The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan, to which they both contributed.
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