While the meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has received a lot of media attention, several other ministerial meetings have been taking place at the APEC summit as well. For example, meetings between Taiwanese and U.S. officials.
The APEC Annual Ministerial Meetings concluded on Wednesday in San Francisco.
As part of the meetings, two Taiwanese officials, Trade Representative John Deng (鄧振中) of the Cabinet’s Office of Trade Negotiations and National Development Council (NDC) Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), held bilateral talks with their respective U.S. counterparts, Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez.
Deng says that he and Tai had agreed to accelerate the second phase of negotiations for the trade deal known as the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade. Deng and Tai both expressed mutual gratitude and satisfaction for the significant progress made in U.S.-Taiwan economic and trade interactions this year. As for the progress of a deal to prevent double taxation in the two countries, Deng says that this is a matter for the Finance Ministry. But he adds that Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) had a great opportunity to fully discuss this matter during the APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting on Tuesday.
Kung said that Fernandez had raised the idea of the U.S. and Taiwan working together in third countries on issues including 5G telecommunications, healthcare, and green energy. Kung says that he has already discussed such cooperation with some Southeast Asian and European countries.