USA The US and Taiwan signed a trade agreement on Thursday in order to deepen economic relations between the two parties, a decision that prompted a warning from Beijing.
The initiative seeks to boost trade by harmonizing customs controls and regulatory procedures, as well as establishing measures to fight corruption in the United States and on the island, which China he considers part of his territory and promised to recover it one day.
Although Washington and Taipei they do not have formal diplomatic relations, they maintain unofficial ties through the de facto US embassy on the island, the American Institute on taiwan (AIT).
The first agreement under this initiative was signed by representatives of the AIT and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in USAthe United States Trade Representative (USTR) Office said on Thursday.
The pact “seeks to strengthen and deepen the economic and commercial relationship” between both partiesUSTR spokesman Sam Michel said in a statement.
Deputy Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi attended the signing ceremony, he said.
“We thank our partners in Taiwan for helping us reach this important milestone and look forward to upcoming negotiations in more trade areas set out in the initiative’s negotiating mandate,” Michel added.
The United States is the island’s second largest trading partner. Washington is one of its key allies and supplies it with weapons, despite having diplomatically recognized Beijing in 1979.
For Taiwan, the deal “is not only very historic but marks a new beginning,” Cabinet spokesman Alan Lin told reporters in Taipei before the ceremony.
China, however, is wary of any rapprochement between Taiwan and other governments and has issued a warning.
The United States “should not send the wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces in the name of trade,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning added at a press meeting on Thursday.
The spokeswoman urged Washington to avoid signing any agreement “with connotations of sovereignty or of an official nature with the Chinese region of Taiwan.”
Beijing has intensified threats against the island in recent years and has increased its military incursions around its territory.
The last exercises took place in April, when China simulated a three-day “siege” of the insular territory.
The moves were a response to a meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
Source: AFP
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