United States and Taiwan They are going to sign a trade agreement this Thursday that they have classified as “historic” that will mark “a new beginning” in relations between the two, according to the spokeswoman for the Taiwanese Executive. However, the announcement is likely to aggravate tensions between Beijing and Washington.
(Read here: How would a conflict between Taiwan and China affect Colombia and the world?)
The pacts are part of the so-called “United States-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade”. The initiative between both countries seeks to boost trade by harmonizing customs controls and regulatory procedures and by establishing measures to fight corruption. For Taiwan, the agreement is “the most comprehensive” so far signed with the United States since 1979.
For now, the agreement does not include the reduction or elimination of tariffs. According to the Taiwan Trade Negotiations Officequoted by the official agency CNA, what will be signed is the “first amendment” to the treaty, which includes the rules and procedures with which the two parties intend to strengthen their commercial relations.
China, however, is wary of any rapprochement between Taiwan and other governments, considering the island part of its territory, which it has vowed to one day regain. Beijing has intensified threats against the island in recent years and has increased its military incursions around its territory.
The latest exercises took place in April, when China simulated a three-day “encirclement” of the island territory. The maneuvers were a response to the meeting between the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen and the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, in California.
In fact, Beijing presented “numerous protests” to the United States on Thursday for a trade agreement that the North American country will sign this Thursday with Taiwan. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao ning He accused the Progressive Democratic Party (ruler on the island) at a press conference of having a plan to “seek independence under the guise of commercial and economic cooperation.”
“His plan is doomed to fail,” Mao said, urging Washington to “put an end to any form of official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan” and “not to negotiate agreements with Taiwan that have connotations of sovereignty and are of an official nature.” .
The spokeswoman recommended that the North American country “do not send the wrong signals to Taiwan’s secessionist forces for independence in the name of the economy and trade.”
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With AFP and Efe
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