U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Taiwan’s envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Lin Hsin-I, on Thursday ahead of the bloc’s Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Lima, Peru.
The discussion centered on economic cooperation, as Blinken highlighted in a social media post.
“Met with Lin Hsin-i in Lima. We spoke about our growing economic relationship and our enduring shared commitment to foster an open, dynamic, and peaceful Indo-Pacific,” Blinken wrote on X.
The pull-aside meeting, which lasted about 20 minutes, was not previously announced in Blinken’s official schedule.
“We discussed our important economic cooperation,” Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, who also participated in the meeting, told reporters during a phone briefing late Thursday.
In a readout, Taiwan said that Blinken and Lin exchanged views on strengthening the U.S.-Taiwan partnership and discussed strategies for ensuring regional peace and stability.
Lin, a former vice premier of Taiwan and a senior presidential adviser to President Lai Ching-te, was chosen to represent Taiwan at this year’s APEC leaders meetings in Peru.
On Friday, the White House announced that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s leading advanced semiconductor producer, will receive up to $6.6 billion in CHIPS & Science Act funding. That supports TSMC’s $65 billion investment to build three facilities in Arizona, creating tens of thousands of jobs by the decade’s end.
The White House called it the largest foreign direct investment in a completely new project in U.S. history.
Taiwan’s role in APEC
APEC, an international forum comprising 21 member economies from the Pacific Rim, promotes free trade and economic cooperation across the Asia-Pacific region. Although Taiwan holds full membership in APEC, it faces restrictions due to pressure from China and has to send special envoys instead of its presidents to the annual leaders meetings.
Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, it has never governed Taiwan but continues to view the self-ruled democracy as part of its territory.
Upcoming Biden-Xi talks
Blinken will accompany U.S. President Joe Biden at Saturday’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, marking the third in-person talks between the two leaders.
Biden is expected to “underscore the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and express his concerns that the PRC’s increased military activities around Taiwan are destabilizing and eroding the status quo,” according to U.S. officials.
On Friday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian urged Washington to abide by the “one-China principle” and not allow Taiwan President Lai to transit through the United States, urging Washington to take “concrete actions to uphold China-U.S. relations.”
Lin was asked to comment on a Reuters report that Lai plans to stop in Hawaii and maybe Guam on a visit to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific in coming weeks.
The U.S. one-China policy differs from the PRC’s one-China principle, which Washington has said it does not subscribe to.
The U.S. says it remains committed to its long-standing, bipartisan 0ne-China policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances.
Chinese officials have rejected the Taiwan Relations Act, calling the U.S. law governing its relations with Taiwan “illegal and invalid.”
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