Beijing 'Firmly Opposes' US-Taiwan Trade Initiative

Wires carrying comments from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce stating that Beijing 'firmly opposes' the recently-concluded US-Taiwan Trade Initiative, saying that it reiterates its call for the US to 'prudently handle' its economic and trade relations with Taiwan.

• On May 18 the office of US Trade Representative Katherine Tai stated that the US and Taiwan had agreed to the first part of their '21st century' trade initiative. USTR: "The first agreement under the initiative covers the areas of customs administration and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, services domestic regulation, anticorruption, and small and medium-sized enterprises. Through these provisions, U.S. businesses will be able to bring more products to Taiwan and Taiwanese customers, while creating more transparent and streamlined regulatory procedures that can facilitate investment and economic opportunities in both markets, particularly for small- and medium-sized enterprises"
• Following this first phase agreement,other areasare open for negotiation, including: agriculture, standards, digital trade, labour rights, environmental protection, SOEs, and non-market policies and practices.