The United States and Taiwan on Wednesday announced targets for trade negotiations set for early fall to strengthen ties even as tensions with China over the self-governing island rise.
The negotiations would cover a variety of areas, including agriculture, digital trade, good regulatory practices and removing barriers to trade, the US Trade Representative’s office said in a statement.
The negotiations “will deepen our trade and investment ties, advance mutual trade priorities based on shared values, and foster innovation and inclusive economic growth for our workers and businesses,” said United States Deputy Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi.
“We plan to pursue an ambitious timeline to deliver high-level commitments and meaningful outcomes covering the 11 trade areas of the negotiating mandate that will help build a fairer, more prosperous and more resilient economy in the 21st century.”
The talks, dubbed the US-Taiwan Initiative on Trade in the 21st Century, were unveiled on June 1.
In recent weeks, tensions across the Taiwan Strait have risen to their highest levels in decades following a trip to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The visit sparked an angry reaction from Beijing, which launched its largest-ever military drills around the island.
China views Taiwan as its own territory, to be one day conquered, if necessary by force, and resists any perceived treatment as a sovereign nation-state.
There is broad bipartisan support for Taiwan in the United States, particularly in recent years as President Xi Jinping’s Beijing has grown more assertive about the democratic island.
Washington recognizes Beijing diplomatically towards Taipei but maintains de facto ties with Taiwan and supports the island’s right to decide its future.
She is officially opposed to both Taiwan’s declaration of independence and Beijing’s forcible change of island status, and maintains a policy of “strategic ambiguity” about whether it would intervene if China were to invade.
The United States and Taiwan have longstanding trade and investment ties. Taiwan is also a key global supplier of some of the most advanced semiconductors used in everything from cell phones and laptops to cars and rockets.
“I am pleased that we are taking a big step forward by opening a new chapter in our trade partnership,” Taiwan’s Washington representative, Hsiao Bi-khim, tweeted on Friday.
“We welcome this announcement and Taiwan is ready to go!”
China remains Taiwan’s largest trading partner by far.
Last year, about 42 percent of Taiwan’s exports went to China and Hong Kong, compared with 15 percent for the United States.
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