TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Week 2023 takes place in San Francisco from Nov. 11 to 17, with Taiwan having four main focuses: U.S-China leaders' talks, potential meetings between the U.S. President Joe Biden and TSMC Founder Morris Chang, progress on U.S-Taiwan trade negotiations, and Taiwan's potential participation in CPTPP.
Biden is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next Wednesday at the APEC summit for talks on trade, Taiwan, the ongoing U.S.-China tech war, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) activities in the Taiwan Strait. The encounter will be the first time in a year after the 2022 G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Taiwan officials are working towards arranging a meeting between Chang and Biden, as the former is appointed as special envoy to attend the summit. Chang met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in Bangkok, Thailand during the APEC summit in 2022.
Though the first agreement under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade has been signed, however, Taiwan's Minister Without Portfolio John Deng stated that the second round of negotiations is not progressing as fast as expected.
Deng further expressed hopes to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai during the summit to confirm progress.
Furthermore, as APEC members overlap significantly with CPTPP, Taiwan will likely take this opportunity to hold bilateral talks with CPTPP members, pushing for more support for the island nation's admission to the trans-Pacific trade pact.
