US and Taiwan hold first round of trade talks in new bid to counter China’s economic influence
- Two sides expect to sign agreements covering trade areas spanning regulatory practices, digital trade and state-owned enterprises, US Trade Representative says
- The talks follow an announcement this month of a ‘US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade’ that strengthens Washington’s ties to Taipei
The US said on Monday that it had held a first round of talks with Taiwanese officials on an initiative aimed at boosting trade ties “based on shared values” – formally opening another front on which US President Joe Biden is trying to counter Beijing’s economic influence.
US deputy trade representative Sarah Bianchi and Taiwanese minister without portfolio John Deng met under the auspices of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), Washington’s de facto embassy on the self-ruled island, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington (Tecro), according to an announcement by the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).
Allen Carlson, director of Cornell University’s China and Asia-Pacific Studies programme, said that “Washington is undertaking [the new US-Taiwan initiative] with more than one eye, probably two eyes, on Beijing and how Beijing is responding”.
“It does seem then, across a whole host of areas – whether it’s economics, whether it’s security, whether it’s diplomacy – that Beijing and Washington are sort of sparring with each other, to get a sense of what they can do, how far they can go and what the other side’s intentions are,” Carlson added.
Analysts have said that Biden would not have been able to bring the 12 inaugural IPEF members on board had he included Taipei because of concern in some of these countries over how Beijing would react.
US lawmakers have their own plan for closer ties with Taiwan as a way to counter Beijing, a motivation that represents “maybe the very last and sole bipartisan issue left in the United States”, Carlson said.
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Passed in 1979, as Washington switched its official diplomatic recognition of China to Beijing from Taipei, the Taiwan Relations Act authorises the US to provide Taipei with arms used in a “defensive character”. As with Washington’s overall policy towards Taiwan, the degree to which the US government is obligated to provide that support is intentionally ambiguous.
“What you’re seeing is both sides and both parties kind of manoeuvring to make the case that they are defending America’s interests in Asia and are standing up to China,” Carlson said. “And Taiwan is, frankly, kind of a tool within the domestic political game.”
According to the USTR, Bianchi and Deng also “held round-table conversations with several groups of US and Taiwan stakeholders”, while “members of Congress and labour and business leaders shared their views” – though he statement did not name those parties. It added that the two officials planned to hold additional talks “in the near future”.