On November 8, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Taiwan representative Vincent Siew at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting in Beijing, China. They welcomed the strong economic and people to people ties between the United States and Taiwan. Secretary Kerry noted the importance of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) in strengthening those ties over the last 35 years and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to upholding its obligations under the TRA.
During their meeting, Secretary Kerry and former Vice President Siew discussed Taiwan’s aspirations to improve its economic integration with partners in the Asia Pacific region. Taiwan is America’s 12th largest trading partner and Secretary Kerry welcomed Taiwan’s interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), while noting that Taiwan will need to make progress on market and investment reforms and demonstrate its commitment to high-standard trade liberalization.
Secretary Kerry affirmed the United States’ gratitude for Taiwan’s contribution to the ongoing efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and to defeat Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), noting especially Taiwan’s contributions to assist refugees who have been displaced by that conflict in the Middle East.
