(Taipei) The United States and Taiwan will sign a “historic” trade deal on Thursday, Taipei said, an announcement that led Beijing to once again warn Washington about its relationship with the self-governing island.
The Trade Negotiations Office in Taipei said the first batch of these agreements prepared under the “U.S.-Taiwan 21st Century Trade Initiative” will be signed in Washington at 10 a.m., without providing further details. .
The United States and Taiwan launched bilateral trade talks in June 2022, defying Beijing, which considers the island as one of its provinces and refuses to allow it to enter into any official relationship with foreign countries.
The United States and Taiwan have been linked since 1994 by a “framework” for trade and investment. Taipei also joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002, which contributed to the growth of bilateral trade.
The United States is Taiwan’s most important partner and arms supplier.
China views with displeasure the rapprochement in recent years between the Taiwanese authorities and the United States which, despite the absence of official relations, provides this territory with substantial military support.
“The agreement that will be signed tonight is not only quite historic, but it marks a new beginning,” government spokesman Alan Lin told reporters in Taipei.
It should make it possible to increase trade between Washington and Taipei by harmonizing customs controls, regulatory procedures and establishing measures to fight corruption.
For Taiwan, it is the “most comprehensive” trade agreement signed with the United States since 1979.
On Thursday, China urged the United States not to sign any agreement “carrying overtones of sovereignty or of an official nature with the Chinese region of Taiwan”.
The United States “must not send the wrong signals to Taiwanese independence forces in the name of trade,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press briefing.
Since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, China has viewed Taiwan as a province that it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory. Beijing is aiming for this reunification by force if necessary.
Relations between Beijing and Taipei, at their lowest since Xi Jinping came to power more than 10 years ago, have deteriorated further in recent years and China has stepped up military incursions around the island.
In April, the Chinese army organized major military maneuvers that simulated an encirclement of the autonomous island for three days, carried out in retaliation for the stopovers a few days earlier by the Taiwanese president in the United States.