Former Vice President Mike Pence urged the Biden administration to pursue a trade deal with Taiwan and restrict Chinese investment in the United States as part of a broad and aggressive policy agenda intended to combat Beijing’s growing global influence.
“Now is the perfect time to negotiate a trade agreement with Taiwan that'll benefit both partners, while also helping Taiwan remain strong and secure,” Pence said. “Engaging with Taiwan encourages other free nations to do likewise, and it promotes stability and peace throughout the region.”
The suggestion was one of many that Pence outlined on Wednesday during an in-person appearance at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Other members of the Trump administration, including former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, joined him at the event.
Pence credited the Trump administration with shifting the “national consensus” to recognize China as an economic and security rival, but also argued that the trade and foreign policies taken “were only intended to be first steps.”
“America cannot afford to stand still in writing our relationship with China and it is incumbent on the Biden administration to keep up the pressure, pick up the pace and lead America forward,” he said.
So far, he said, the Biden administration appears weak.
Trump’s track record: The Trump administration did not initiate trade talks with Taiwan despite bipartisan pressure from Congress. Such a move would likely have rattled China's government and potentially jeopardized President Donald Trump’s signature Phase One trade deal, which trade experts say so far Beijing has not completely fulfilled.
But Trump imposed sanctions on Chinese companies deemed to be a threat, adding a number of tech firms to a Commerce Department blacklist, and signing executive orders seeking to banish others from the U.S. market. Several of those orders were struck down in court and have been replaced since Biden took office.
Beefing up economic ties to Taiwan should coincide with weaning U.S. reliance on Chinese manufacturing and investment in sectors deemed vital to national security, such as agriculture, medical supplies and infrastructure, Pence asserted.
He also said that the U.S. should resist Chinese efforts to gain a foothold in the Western Hemisphere through infrastructure investments in Latin America. The U.S. should prohibit Chinese nationals from obtaining H-1B visas to work at tech companies, he added.
Criticizes corporate stances: Pence also aimed harsh words at U.S. companies that “aid and abet” China’s government. He accused business leaders of upholding certain environmental and social justice standards in the U.S. while ignoring them under China’s more-relaxed rules.
“Beijing has exploited modern corporate America's insatiable appetite for market access and coerced top CEOs, athletes and entertainers into not only withholding criticism from the communist regime, but in many cases actively singing their praises,” Pence said.
He encouraged American consumers to purchase domestic products and employers to hire workers in the U.S. rather than China.
“Millions of Americans are looking at corporate America today and saying, are you on our side or theirs?” he said.
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July 15, 2021 at 04:08AM
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Pence presses trade deal with Taiwan, slams Biden on China - Politico
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