US plans to hold talks with Chinese Taipei despite China opposition

The United States government has scheduled to hold talks with Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) officials despite China's fierce opposition to diplomatic relations between them and solemn warning against fostering ties with the self-governing island which Beijing considers as its own territory.

Two senior Taiwanese government officials cited by US media on Friday said Taipei and Washington had plans to hold talks on trade and the economy despite the repeated warnings from China against it.

The unnamed officials said that the countries could begin talks to deepen economic ties “in a few weeks,” with the goal of creating more significant trade and economic cooperation between the two.

The meetings will “explore concrete ways to deepen the US-Taiwan trade and investment relationship,” according to US media reports, adding that the talks would focus on enhancing economic cooperation and supply-chain resiliency, including areas of trade facilitation, supply-chain work and trade in agricultural products, yet falling short of a traditional free-trade agreement.

The US media reports on the enhancement of Washington-Taipei ties follow a stern warning from China on Wednesday.

Despite Beijing's warnings, the US government has continued its attempts to forge strong alliances with regional allies, while countering China's growing clout.

"The Indo-Pacific strategy cooked up by the United States ... claims that it intends to 'change China's surrounding environment,' but its purpose is to contain China and make Asia-Pacific countries serve as 'pawns' of US hegemony," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in early 2018 about the US-designed alliances in the Indo-Pacific region.

SS