US, Taiwan Sign 1st Agreement of 21st Century Trade Initiative — Rebuke From Beijing

Published in China Review News
(Hong Kong) on 2 June 2023
by Yu Donghui (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Matthew McKay. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
The U.S. and Taiwan signed the first agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade (USTI) in Washington on the morning of June 1. Beijing sharply criticized the agreement and accused Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party authorities of “using Taiwan’s material resources to please foreign countries.”

The agreement was signed by representatives of the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the U.S. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi attended the signing ceremony.

According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the agreement aims to strengthen and deepen economic and trade relations between the U.S. and Taiwan. We are grateful to both parties for reaching this important milestone, and we look forward to the upcoming negotiations on the other trade areas set out in the Initiative’s negotiating mandate.

The first agreement provides for customs administration and trade facilitation, good regulatory measures, internal supervision of services, anti-corruption, small and medium-sized enterprises and so on. According to this agreement, both parties aim to reduce waiting times for customs clearance of imports and exports, with the possibility of submitting documents and paying customs tariffs electronically. The parties also aim to help small and medium-sized enterprises better understand management according to rules and seek public input on the drafting of rules, increase the transparency and ease of service sector license applications, strengthen cooperation in the fight against corruption in the field of economics and trade, enhance trade and investment opportunities for SMEs, etc.

The U.S. sees enhancing economic and trade cooperation as a more substantive measure in support of Taiwan. After Taiwan was excluded from the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, the U.S. and Taiwan launched the USTI on June 1 last year. The framework of this free trade initiative covers 11 areas, including trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, agriculture, anti-corruption, SMEs, digital trade, labor, environmental protection, standards, state-owned enterprises and non-market economies. Negotiations between the two parties started last August with a number of video conferences and two face-to-face consultations last November and this past January.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative previously stated that once the initial agreement is signed, negotiations would begin on other more complex areas of trade, including agriculture, digital trade, labor and environmental standards, state-owned enterprises and non-market policies and practices. The agreement is not expected to change tariffs on goods, but it will increase exports of U.S. goods to Taiwan.

In response to the U.S.’ and Taiwan’s proposed signing of the USTI, Zhu Fenglian, the spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said on May 31 that she was firmly opposed to any negotiations of a sovereign or official nature between countries that have established diplomatic relations with China and China’s Taiwan region, and that this position was consistent and clear.

Zhu argued that the DPP authorities’ pushing of this so-called agreement allowed the U.S. to take whatever it wanted and meant “using up Taiwan’s material resources to please foreign countries,” and that it was a complete waste of money and dead in the water. The so-called agreement, she said, was an unequal one: that it was a political deal dressed up as economics and trade, an American ruse to bleed Taiwan dry and DPP obsequiousness at Taiwan’s expense; that betraying the interests of the island’s enterprises and its people was the cost of the “diplomatic achievements” of which the DPP authorities boasted; and that Taiwan’s core industrial advantages and overall competitiveness had been weakened.


美台簽21世紀貿易倡議首份協議 北京狠批

中評社華盛頓6月1日電(記者 余東暉)

美國與台灣於美東時間6月1日上午在華府簽署了“美台21世紀貿易倡議”下的第一份協議。這個協議受到北京方面狠批,被指為民進黨當局“盡台灣之物力,討外國之歡心”。

這項協議由美國在台協會和駐美台北經文處的代表簽署。美國副貿易代表薩拉·比安奇(Sarah Bianchi)出席了的簽署儀式。

美國貿易代表辦稱,該協議旨在加強和深化美台之間的經貿關係。感謝雙方達到這一重要的里程碑,並期待即將進行的關於該倡議談判授權中規定的其他貿易領域的談判。

第一份協議就海關管理和貿易便利、良好規管措施、服務內部監管、反腐敗、中小企業等做出規定。根據這份協議,雙方致力於減少進出口貨物通關等待時間,文件提交和關稅支付可透過電子化手段進行;幫助中小企業更好地理解規則管理,並就規則起草徵求公共意見;增加服務業執照申請的透明度和便利度;加強在經貿領域反腐敗的合作;增進中小企業的貿易投資機會等。

加強經貿合作被美方視為支持台灣的更具實質意義的舉措。台灣被排除在拜登政府提出的“印太經濟框架”(IPEF)之外後,美台於去年6月1日啟動“21世紀貿易倡議”。這項自由貿易倡議框架包含貿易便捷化、法規制定、農業、反貪污、中小企業、數字貿易、勞工、環保、標準、國營企業、非市場經濟等11項。去年8月起雙方展開談判,進行了多次視頻會議及去年11月、今年1月的兩次面對面磋商。

美國貿易代表辦公室此前表示,在簽署初步協議後,將開始就其他更複雜的貿易領域,包括農業、數字貿易、勞工與環境標準、國有企業以及非市場政策和做法進行談判。該協議預計不會改變商品關稅,但將增加美國商品對台出口。

針對美台擬簽署“21世紀貿易倡議”首個協議,中國國台辦發言人朱鳳蓮5月31日表示,堅決反對與中國建交的國家與中國台灣地區洽商任何具有主權意涵或官方性質的協議,這一立場是一貫的、明確的。

朱鳳蓮指出,民進黨當局力推這份所謂“協議”,任由美方予取予求,是“盡台灣之物力,討外國之歡心”,純屬賠本賺吆喝。這份所謂“協議”是不平等協議,是披著經貿外衣做政治交易,是美國巧取豪奪、壓榨台灣,是民進黨當局卑躬屈膝、出賣台灣。民進黨當局吹噓的所謂“外交成就”,其代價就是島內企業、民眾利益被出賣,台灣核心產業優勢和整體經濟競爭力被削弱。
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

Hot this week

Mexico: Trump and His Personal Style

Australia: Donald Trump Is Taking Over the US Federal Reserve and Financial Markets Have Missed the Point

Australia: Australia Boosts Corporate Law Enforcement as America Goes Soft

Canada: Putin Is Negotiating Victory, Not Peace

Topics

Ireland: We Must Stand Up to Trump on Climate. The Alternative Is Too Bleak To Contemplate

Canada: Carney Takes Us Backwards with Americans on Trade

Thailand: Appeasing China Won’t Help Counter Trump

Poland: Ukraine Is Still Far from Peace. What Was Actually Decided at the White House?

Ireland: Irish Examiner View: Would We Miss Donald Trump and Would a Successor Be Worse?

Canada: Minnesota School Shooting Is Just More Proof That America Is Crazed

Related Articles

Thailand: Appeasing China Won’t Help Counter Trump

India: Will New US Envoy Help to Repair Ties under Threat?

France: Global South: Trump Is Playing into China’s Hands

Zimbabwe: What the West Doesn’t Understand about China’s Growing Military Might

Sri Lanka: Trump Is Very Hard on India and Brazil, but For Very Different Reasons