According to Taiwanese media citing U.S. media, the U.S. State Department and National Security Council are committed to pushing Taiwan and the United States to sign a "free trade agreement," but U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer has no intention of letting it go. He believes

According to Taiwanese media citing U.S. media, the U.S. State Department and National Security Council are committed to promoting Taiwan and the United States to sign a "Free Trade Agreement" (FTA), but U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has no intention of letting it go. He believes that Taiwan restricts U.S. meat imports. , adopting protectionism in trade.

Screenshot of Taiwan's "China Times" report

Screenshot of Taiwanese media report

Taiwan's "China Times" quoted US media reports as saying that American hawks forces are on the rise. Among them, the US State Department and the National Security Council proposed to promote the signing of a treaty between the United States and Taiwan. The "Free Trade Agreement" is believed to "hit Beijing's pain points." However, U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer has always believed that Taiwan has trade protectionism and vetoed the proposal, putting a brake on the seemingly leap-forward U.S.-Taiwan FTA negotiation process.

"China Times" said that people familiar with the matter revealed that Lighthizer recently sent a letter to Texas Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn, stating that "the United States and Taiwan still face long-term trade barriers . Taiwan restrictions U.S. beef and pork products have entered the market, even though Taiwan has previously promised to solve these problems. "

" China Times Electronic News and other Taiwanese media quoted "The Wall Street Journal" as reporting that Taiwan and the United States "signed a free trade agreement", although there is an economic gap. The impact will be limited, but it may be viewed by Beijing as a major U.S. political commitment to Taiwan.

Since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power, the so-called "Taiwan-US relations" seems to have become the mantra of the entire party. The Democratic Progressive Party authorities have also made it clear on multiple occasions that they hope to strengthen "Taiwan-US" economic and trade cooperation and investment and negotiate the signing of the so-called "Taiwan-US Free Trade Agreement" (FTA).

According to the Democratic Progressive Party, one of the purposes of signing this agreement with the United States is to reduce dependence on mainland China and achieve "decoupling" of the cross-strait economy. Cai Liansheng, secretary-general of the Federation of Taiwan Industries, said in a previous interview that he has been negotiating with the United States for more than 30 years. If he wants to sign an FTA with the United States, he will definitely peel off several layers of Taiwan's skin. He said that the United States definitely does not just want Taiwan to open up American pigs and American cattle. The United States wants too many things.

Yuan Heling, a professor at National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan, also believed in a previous interview that it is unlikely that Taiwan and the United States will sign an FTA.

Yuan Heling

Yuan Heling said that Tsai Ing-wen's pro-US policy in diplomacy is simply to gain benefits from friendly relations between Taiwan and the United States. However, from a practical perspective, the possibility of Taiwan and the United States signing an FTA is low.

Yuan Heling said that whether Taiwan and the United States can sign an FTA does not only involve US-Taiwan relations. The United States also needs to take into account the opinions and attitudes of other countries, and the Taiwan authorities have almost no say in this. Therefore, he believes that the United States will not make unilateral concessions to Taiwan.

As early as November 2018, Taiwan proposed the so-called "Taiwan-U.S. Free Trade Agreement". Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, responded by saying, "We have reiterated many times that we firmly oppose any form of trade between countries that have diplomatic relations with China and the Taiwan region." Official contact is our consistent position. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made solemn representations to relevant parties in this regard.

column editor: Gu Wanquan Text editor: Dong Siyun Title and picture source: Visual China Picture editor: Xiang Jianying

source: Author: Global Network