Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Biden administration has identified climate and the environment as top strategic, diplomatic, and economic priorities for the United States. This should mean new opportunities for U.S.-Taiwan collaboration, as well as broader international coordination, but what will it look like in action?
It’s the essential ingredient for Taipei to achieve its economic diversification goals.
A year into the Biden administration, the U.S.-Taiwan trade relationship has experienced only modest gains, not the broader negotiated agreements for which many in the United States and Taiwan have long hoped. How can officials ensure the economic relationship reaches its potential?
A global rethink of supply chains means that some economies will have opportunities to attract investment, build out new industries, and diversify their growth drivers. Taiwan is positioned to benefit from these shifts, but requires policy changes and technology investments to fully take advantage.
The pandemic, structural changes, and geopolitical competition have all led to an acute supply chain crisis. Taiwan stands to benefit, but it needs policy changes and technology investments first.
For nearly two decades Taiwan and the United States have battled an escalating series of public health crises, from SARS to COVID-19. And since COVID-19 is unlikely to be the last such crisis, public health should be an arena for growing U.S.-Taiwan cooperation.
Taiwan’s prowess in high-tech manufacturing and data privacy could make Taiwan firms unsung heroes of the global competition over standard setting for emerging technologies.
A U.S.-Taiwan trade pact would be welcome, but laying the groundwork will take time, and the two sides risk losing momentum. Several other shovel-ready economic initiatives could be ready sooner and shouldn’t be delayed.
It is having the side effect of appearing to dismantle the policy of ‘engagement’ with China of the previous seven US administrations and the way they treated Taiwan.
Taiwan’s coronavirus success was based on efficient coordination across the public and private sectors coupled with innovative deployment of advanced technology.