Washington adds to Beijing's anger by launching a trade pact with Taiwan

Washington keeps the temperature of its conflict with Beijing high after its notable overheating as a result of the visit to Taiwan of the president of the House of Representatives and third authority of the United States, Nancy Pelosi, at the beginning of August.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
18 August 2022 Thursday 23:30
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Washington adds to Beijing's anger by launching a trade pact with Taiwan

Washington keeps the temperature of its conflict with Beijing high after its notable overheating as a result of the visit to Taiwan of the president of the House of Representatives and third authority of the United States, Nancy Pelosi, at the beginning of August. Following up on the 21st Century Trade initiative, announced by the US and Cuban administrations on June 1, the Joe Biden government is now launching negotiations with Taipei to reach a trade and investment agreement in the country.

According to the Office of the US Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, the negotiations for the commercial pact will start with a first round in early fall and will cover a dozen areas and objectives, among which she cited "facilitating trade, good regulatory practices, strong anti-corruption standards, improved exchanges between our small and medium-sized businesses, deepening agricultural trade, removal of discriminatory barriers, digital trade, strong labor and environmental standards, as well as ways to address distortionary practices of state companies and anti-commercial policies and practices”: goals that clearly allude to China's restrictions and interference in the traffic of goods and services.

In this regard, the two parties committed to promoting "equal conditions for workers and companies when they compete in the international market against entities controlled by the government or the State."

Beijing rejected the talks and said it will take "all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests," the country's Ministry of Commerce announced yesterday.

“The one-China principle is a prerequisite for Taiwan's participation in economic cooperation with foreign countries, said Shu Jueting, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, at a press conference. The Xi Jinping government thus highlighted its claim to sovereignty over Taiwan, on which the United States maintains a position of "strategic ambiguity" that is compatible with the promise to arm Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Before Pelosi's explosive visit, the first by a US parliamentary president in 25 years – Newt Gingrich was there in 1995 – Joe Biden declared that the US power would be willing to "defend" Taiwan in case of aggression from China. Xi responded back then that Washington was playing with fire and could get burned. But it was the arrival of Pelosi, followed by that of five congressmen just two weeks later, that really excited Beijing's spirits to the point of undertaking threatening military exercises around the waters and the sky of the "rogue island" that it longs for. Their independence.

Taiwan's Ministry of Defense said yesterday that 51 planes and six Chinese ships had been detected operating around Taiwan on Thursday as a continuation of the exercises that began in early August. Half of the aircraft reportedly flew into the island's air defense zone or even crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which acts as an unofficial barrier between the two sides.

In an interview with US media, the Chinese ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, made it clear what, according to Beijing, the US should do to resume normal relations between the two powers: "They must think about their behavior in Taiwan, reflect about what is the true one-China principle and refrain from doing anything else to escalate tension, because there is concern in China that the United States may take more action, politically and militarily. And if that happens, he warned, China will be forced to react.