The Government of Taiwan announced this Friday, despite criticism from China, the signing of a trade agreement to boost trade with the United States, by simplifying customs procedures, investments and other regulations.
According to a statement, the agreement was signed in the US capital, Washington, on Thursday by Taiwan’s representative to the US, Hsiao Bi-khim, and Ingrid Larson, executive director of the US Embassy Institute in Taipei.
Taiwanese side’s negotiator John Deng Chen-chung described the agreement as “a crucial step in negotiating and signing trade agreements with major trading powers,” the statement said.
Taiwan’s government said the initiative “will surely increase opportunities to participate in regional trade agreements,” including the Comprehensive Progressive Partnership on Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
In September 2021, Taiwan applied to join the CPTPP, one of the largest trade agreements in the world. China, which had requested the deal in the same month, “categorically” opposed Taipei’s request.
The statement said that the easing of US trade and customs procedures and the introduction of anti-corruption measures “will create more opportunities and substantial benefits for small and medium-sized businesses” on the island.
The United States has no official relations with Taiwan, but it maintains extensive informal ties and trade worth billions of dollars.
China on Thursday criticized US plans to sign a trade deal with Taiwan and urged Washington to break off official contacts with the island, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.
“The United States should discontinue any form of official exchange with Taiwan, refrain from negotiating agreements with Taiwan that are of a sovereign or official nature, and refrain from sending the wrong signals to Taiwanese separatist forces,” the Chinese diplomacy spokesperson said. Mao Ning.
The agreement was signed at a time when China is exerting increasing pressure to intimidate Taiwan by sending planes and warships close to the territory on an almost daily basis.
Several American and European politicians have visited Taiwan in recent months in a show of support for the territory’s elected government.
China and Taiwan have lived as two autonomous territories since 1949, when the former Chinese nationalist government took refuge on the island, after the defeat in the civil war against the communists. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and threatens to forcibly reunify it if the island formally declares its independence.
Source: TSF
