Posted on 05/27/2006 1:35:54 AM PDT by MadIvan
Taiwan should ease its trade restrictions with China or risk economic marginalisation, the deputy US trade representative said on Friday.
The call by Karan Bhatia, the most senior US official to visit Taipei in six years, came after he rejected an appeal by President Chen Shui-bian to start negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan in the near future. He said congressional restrictions prevented the administration from starting a new round of free trade agreement talks.
The refusal was a disappointment to Taipei, which had hoped such an agreement would make it politically easier for other countries to seek trade pacts with Taipei against pressure from China. This would have helped Taiwan to counter a drift to economic isolation as Beijing pushes for bilateral and regional trade agreements in Asia.
Mr Bhatia said Taiwan’s growing isolation was self-imposed. He said a strong economy, not political bargaining chips, would offer a way out.
“Taiwan faces [the challenge] of retaining its competitive edge within the increasingly integrated Asia Pacific region,” he said.
“Finding a way to ensure that Taiwan continues to participate in the region’s dynamic growth requires that it pursues policies consistent with the evolving strategies of multinational businesses.”
Echoing positions long held by the business community, Mr Bhatia said globalisation required integrated cross-border supply chains, in which China played an increasingly important role.
Against this background, Taiwan’s restrictions on the transfer of commercial technology, imports of certain goods from the mainland, cross-Strait travel, investment in China and direct transport links across the Strait put the island at a disadvantage, he said.
Taipei had long assumed that progress on bilateral economic issues of concern – such as the protection of intellectual property rights, agricultural trade and the regulatory regime for pharmaceutical products – would bring the US to talks on a trade pact. But Mr Bhatia’s unusual focus on cross-Strait issues showed their importance had surpassed all other trade concerns.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
There seems to be a trend lately of the US caving to China. We even punnish protestors against the commies here now. What a shame!
http://jednet207.tripod.com/PoliticalLinks.html
hopefully this can be resolved peacefully(i doubt it).
It certainly does Ivan.
American foreign policy long ago ceased to be run by patritos. Now it is totally controlled by international globalist conglomerates whose bottom line is the buck.
For the right profit, they would do business with Satan himself - and they are.
Oh, for the good old Clinton days when we had a secretary of the army named Togo.
I wonder if Mr. Bhatia just didn't wander off from administration policy, substituting his own thoughts instead? From reading around the web, he is being touted as a "whiz-kid", and certainly he hasn't served in this particular capacity for all that long.
Wonder what kind of restrictions and how solid they are...? Still, I don't like seeing Taiwan treated this way.
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