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Source: PRESS RELEASE, 5/20/22
This week, U.S. Senator Thom
Tillis (R-NC) and 51 of his Senate colleagues sent a bipartisan letter to
President Joe Biden to urge the administration to include Taiwan as a partner
in the proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). In addition to
recognizing Taiwan’s importance to the United States as an important trading
partner, the senators underscored that failing to include Taiwan in IPEF runs
counter to U.S. economic interests in the region.
“IPEF can be a meaningful first step for the United States to assure its allies and partners that we are economically engaged in the region, which accounts for sixty percent of the world economy and two-thirds of all economic growth over the last five years. For IPEF to be a useful vehicle to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific, however, we must make sure that all of America’s regional allies and partners are included,” the
senators wrote. “This is just one necessary aspect to ensuring the framework is competitive in a region already saturated with economic treaties and agendas.”In addition to requesting that the Biden Administration engage with
the committee on the issue and provide a briefing on economic security policy
toward Taiwan, the senators also underscored that excluding Taiwan would
significantly distort both regional and global economic architecture. “The more economic engagement U.S. and allies and partners have with Taiwan, the stronger our collective resilience against coercion,” the senators added. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows the value of tangible economic support by the United States and like-minded allies and partners, and the same is true for Taiwan. Including Taiwan in the IPEF would be an invaluable signal of our rock-solid commitment to Taiwan and its prosperity and freedom.” A copy of the letter can be found here.
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