US, Taiwan could hold talks on ramping up trade and economic ties 'in few weeks': Report

United States and Taiwan could begin talks over deepening tre and economic ties “in a few weeks”, revealed two senior Taiwanese government officials to CNN on Friday. As per report, officials have said that fresh discussions between both countries will “explore concrete ways to deepen US-Taiwan tre and investment relationship” while focussing on institutionalising cooperation in supply chain, resilience, labour, environment and sustainable development. 

A senior official also said that a formal announcement will come after “coordination and consultations are me”. ditionally, a senior official told US media outlet on Friday that Taiwan may send a delegation to participate in SelectUSA Investment summit in Maryland in June. This summit would facilitate overseas business investment into US. However, it is to note that Taiwan was excluded from Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which is a regional economic plan unveiled by US President Joe Biden during his visit to Tokyo earlier this week. 

As per report, IPEF is US President's attempt at engaging a region which is appearing to come under China’s influence. framework is not a tre agreement but it includes one “pillar” related to tre. It also incorporates or areas like making supply chains more resilient, promoting clean energy and combating corruption. IPEF participating nations include Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, alongside United States.

Experts on Taiwan’s exclusion from IPEF

While announcing plan, Biden h said, “ future of 21st Century economy is going to be largely written in Indo-Pacific, our region.” Taiwan was excluded from framework despite island nation voicing its desire to be a part of same. According to some experts, US kept Taiwan out of IPEF due to some members’ wish to not stoke tensions with China which considers self-ruled island nation as its own ‘breakaway province’. 

Roy Lee, a deputy executive director at Taiwan's Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research, told media outlet, “Many countries expressed a desire to downplay US-China confrontation in IPEF, and that is main reason why Taiwan was not invited to attend launch ceremony…Some countries pointed out that Taiwan's inclusion would boost [ IPEF's] efficiency, but re were also worries that China would view se countries as choosing a side.”

Image: AP