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¡¥Anchor¡¦ Taiwan in
global trade: Royce
FRIENDLY WORDS: The chairman of the US House
Foreign Affairs Committee said Taiwan is a robust democracy with a commitment to
human rights and free speech
By William Lowther / Staff reporter in Washington
US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said on
Wednesday that the US should fundamentally restructure its involvement in the
Asia-Pacific region and ¡§firmly anchor¡¨ Taiwan into the global trading system.
¡§The United States must not shy away from including Taiwan into the broader
international trading regime,¡¨ Royce said.
Delivering the annual B.C. Lee lecture on the US¡¦ policy in the Asia-Pacific
region, Royce said that for far too long discussion about Taiwan has been
dominated by arms sales.
He told a packed audience at the Heritage Foundation in Washington that this
¡§myopic approach ... is sadly inadequate.¡¨
Royce described Taiwan as a world-class manufacturing hub with a robust
democracy, and a strong commitment to human rights, free speech and free
markets.
¡§So let¡¦s complete the US-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and
then, in short order, let¡¦s begin negotiations regarding a bilateral investment
agreement,¡¨ he said. ¡§After that, it¡¦s onward to a US-Taiwan free-trade
agreement.¡¨
He said that he strongly believes that where goods and services cross borders,
armies do not.
¡§If this isn¡¦t motivation enough, let¡¦s consider that of the US$11 trillion of
new wealth that will be generated worldwide over the next five years, close to
half of this amount will be in Asia,¡¨ Royce said.
While China¡¦s rise could not be ignored, Royce said that it did not need to be a
collective obsession.
¡§The US must engage China and seek a more productive relationship, because it¡¦s
really in our best interests to make this relationship work,¡¨ he said.
Differences with Beijing about trade or human rights would never go away, he
said.
¡§But to choose a path of contentiousness really limits what we are able to do,¡¨
Royce said.
Unfortunately, he said, the US does not have the economic influence in Asia that
it once had. Economic activity had shifted gradually away from the US to China.
Inter-regional trade between China and Southeast Asia has grown tremendously,
Royce said, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement could not
alone reverse that trend.
Asia¡¦s collective attention was gradually shifting away from economic prosperity
to security concerns, he said.
¡§Where nations used to focus on trade and commerce, now they discuss
nationalism, military budgets and even provocative behavior,¡¨ Royce said. ¡§Look
no further than the territorial disputes in the East China and South China seas
as prime examples.¡¨
The US must somehow find a way to reinvigorate engagement in Asia ¡§not for fear
that we may be left out, but rather we must engage so that we can once again
move the focus squarely back to economic prosperity.¡¨
On becoming chairman of the committee earlier this year, Royce ¡X a Republican ¡X
made his first trip abroad to Taiwan, China, Japan, South Korea and the
Philippines.
¡§The region has changed so much that the old way of doing business will not help
us achieve our objectives in future,¡¨ Royce said. ¡§We must once again make
America the most attractive location to do business for the Asia-Pacific region.
Let¡¦s get the conversation back on to economic prosperity and away from divisive
nationalism.¡¨
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