Representatives of the United States and Taiwan signed this Thursday, US local time, a trade agreement that aims to “strengthen and deepen the economic and trade relationship between the United States and Taiwan.”
The signing ceremony of the document took place in Washington and was attended by representatives of the self-governing island and the American Institute of Taiwan, considered the de facto embassy of the United States in Taipei, reported the Office of Trade Negotiations of the legislative chamber. of Taiwan in a statement.
Taiwanese trade negotiator, John Dengpresent at the event, described the signing as “a milestone” in commercial and economic relations between Taiwan and the US, the statement said.
The Office explained that the new agreements “will enhance the ability of Taiwan’s industries, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to engage in international economic, trade and investment activities.”
Also, Deng expressed his hope to “continue to expand and deepen the areas of economic and trade cooperation and mutually beneficial relations” between Taipei and Washington.
According to the information provided by the US side, the pact “will simplify border procedures and reduce red tape, making it easier, faster and cheaper for US companies to bring their products to Taiwan.”
This Thursday marks the first agreement under the “US-Taiwan Trade Initiative on Trade in the 21st Century,” which includes the rules and procedures with which the two parties intend to strengthen their trade relations.
The Bureau signaled this week that it aims to see this “first amendment” further expanded via negotiation to include areas such as agriculture, standards, digital commerce, the environment and state-owned enterprises.
For her part, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman mao ning accused this Thursday the Democratic Progressive Party (ruler on the island) of having a plan to “seek independence under the guise of commercial and economic cooperation.”
“Your plan is doomed to fail”, Mao asserted, urging Washington to “put an end to any form of official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan” and “not to negotiate agreements with Taiwan that have connotations of sovereignty and are of an official nature.”
China insists on “reunifying” the People’s Republic with the island, which has been governed autonomously since the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalists withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists and continued with the regime of the Republic of China, culminating in the transition to democracy in the 1990s.
The island is one of the biggest sources of conflict between China and the United States, mainly because Washington is Taiwan’s main arms supplier and would be its biggest military ally in the event of a war with China.
