Alexa
  • Directory of Taiwan

China has no reason to be angry at US-Taiwan trade talks: Assistant Secretary of State

State Department's No. 3 official, Keith Krach, likely to visit Taiwan

  3195
Assistant Secretary of State David Stillwell 

Assistant Secretary of State David Stillwell  (AP photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — There is no reason for China to become angry over plans for trade talks between the United States and Taiwan, said the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, David Stillwell, Wednesday (Sept. 2).

His comments followed the announcement that the No.3 at the Department of State, Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach, was likely to visit Taiwan for talks before the end of the month.

Stillwell said Beijing should not take retaliatory measures as the Three Communiqués and the Taiwan Relations Act did not include a ban on economic, trade, and cultural exchanges between Washington and Taipei, the Liberty Times reported Thursday (Sept. 3).

“The efforts to increase prosperity between the two countries should have no effect,” Stillwell said about the planned U.S.-Taiwan talks at a news conference with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Plans for a trip to Taiwan by Krach became known after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced the decision to end a ban on the import of U.S. pork containing the leanness-enhancing drug ractopamine, beginning Jan. 1, 2021. The ban had been seen as a major obstacle on the road to a free trade agreement between the two countries.