Taiwan not included in launch of new Biden Indo-Pacific pact
ABC News
President Joe Biden is expected to come out with a list of countries that will join an Indo-Pacific trade pact, but Taiwan won’t be among them
TOKYO -- President Joe Biden on Monday is expected to come out with a list of nations that will join a long-anticipated Indo-Pacific trade pact, but Taiwan won't be among them.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that Taiwan isn't among the governments signed up for the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a pact that's meant to allow the U.S. to work more closely with key Asian economies on issues like supply chains, digital trade, clean energy and anticorruption. The U.S. president is slated to highlight the launch of the framework as he meets Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday.
Inclusion of the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own, would have irked Beijing.
"We are looking to deepen our economic partnership with Taiwan including on high technology issues, including on semiconductor supply," Sullivan said. “But we’re pursuing that in the first instance on a bilateral basis."
