SINGAPORE: The United States and Taiwan are all set to sign a new trade deal on Thursday amid rising tensions with China. It will be the first agreement under a framework for talks between Taipei and Washington called the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, which started last year.
According to the BBC, the announcement came before a high-level global security conference in Singapore this weekend.
Meanwhile, recent years witnessed a strained relationship between the US and China. Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said the agreement would be signed in Washington on Thursday morning ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue annual defence summit, which begins on Friday.
Deputy United States Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi is expected to be at the event.
The US-Taiwan Initiative framework aims to strengthen economic relations between Washington and Taipei and provide opportunities to Taiwan for more US exports.
China Rejects US, Taiwan Deal
China has rejected the trade talks, as it does with all forms of high-level engagement between the US and Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu are expected to travel to Singapore to attend Friday’s defence summit.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon said Beijing had declined Washington’s invitation for the two officials to meet.
After meeting Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada in Tokyo on Thursday, General Austin told reporters that China’s decision was “unfortunate”.
Gen Austin added that it was important for countries with “significant capabilities” to talk to each other to “manage crises and prevent things from spiraling out of control unnecessarily”.
Relations between Taiwan and China raptured sharply following a visit to the island by the then-US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi in August. Beijing condemned Ms. Pelosi’s visit as “extremely dangerous”.
