The new discussions will “explore concrete ways to deepen US-Taiwan trade and investment relations,” officials said, focusing on institutionalizing cooperation on the sustainability of the supply chain, labor, the environment and sustainable development.
An official announcement will come after “coordination and consultation”, according to a senior official.
CNN turned to the White House for comment.
A senior official also told CNN on Friday that Taiwan could send a delegation to attend the SelectUSA summit in Maryland in June. The summit facilitates foreign business investment in the United States.
Taiwan was excluded from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a regional economic plan unveiled by President Joe Biden during a visit to Tokyo earlier this week. The framework is Biden’s attempt to engage a region increasingly influenced by China.
IPEF is not a trade agreement in the traditional sense. It includes a “pillar” related to trade, but also includes other areas such as increasing the resilience of supply chains, promoting clean energy and fighting corruption.
The countries participating in the IPEF are Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, together with the United States.
“The future of the 21st century economy will be largely written in the Indo-Pacific region, our region,” Biden said as he launched the plan.
Taiwan has expressed a desire to be part of the framework, but was excluded from the launch, a move that some analysts say may be based on a desire by some members not to inflame tensions with China.
“Many countries have expressed a desire to downplay the US-China confrontation in the IPEF, and this is the main reason why Taiwan was not invited to attend the launch ceremony,” said Roy Lee, deputy executive director of Taiwan’s Chung-hua Economic research.
“Some countries have said they will step up Taiwan’s involvement [the IPEF’s] efficiency, but there were also concerns that China would view these countries as electorate countries, “he added.
Taiwan plays a crucial role in global supply chains as it is a world leader in the supply of semiconductor chips. A Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in particular is the world’s largest contracted chip maker and plays an important role in power products designed by technology companies such as Apple (AAPL), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Nvidia. NVDA).
At nearly $ 500 billion, TSMC is one of the most valuable companies in Asia and accounts for 90% of the world’s state-of-the-art chips.
Growing tensions between the United States and China
The self-governing island of 24 million people has faced growing military aggression from China in recent months. The communist authorities in Beijing claimed the 7th largest economy in Asia as part of its territory, although they never ruled it.
Taiwan is emerging as a central issue between China and the United States, and Biden’s tour of Asia this month focused on Beijing’s growing influence in the region.
On Monday, Biden said the United States would intervene militarily if China tried to take Taiwan by force, in what seemed like a strong warning to Beijing not to mimic Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The White House quickly downplayed the comments, saying they did not reflect a change in US policy. This is the third time in recent months – including during CNN’s office in October – that Biden said the United States would defend Taiwan from a Chinese attack only to get the White House to respond.
Beijing has responded angrily, urging Washington to be “cautious in words and deeds on the Taiwan issue.”
The United States has no formal diplomatic relations with the Taipei authorities, but continues to maintain close informal ties by facilitating economic exchanges and supplying Taiwan with defensive weapons to protect itself from invasion.
Last Friday, Taiwan’s chief trade negotiator John Deng held a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Catherine Thai in Thailand, during which they agreed to explore ways to deepen trade relations and meet again in the coming weeks to discuss the way forward. , according to testimony from the United States Office of Commerce.
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