US lawmakers approve Taiwan trade deal

Taipei City [Taiwan], June 23 : United States (US) lawmakers have voted to approve an agreement aimed at strengthening economic relations with Taiwan on Wednesday. The issue has already provoked an irritated response from Beijing, Hong-Kong based The Standard reported.

The US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade streamlines customs checks, looks to improve regulatory procedures and establishes anti-corruption measures.

It now leads from the upper chamber of the US Congress, the House of Representatives to the Senate, where it is expected to be ratified. Washington does not hold any official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, as per The Standard.

The governments maintain unofficial ties

The governments maintain unofficial ties, however, through the de facto US embassy on the island, the American Institute in Taiwan, which signed the agreement earlier this month with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States.

Washington is the island's second-largest trade partner. Moreover, it has remained a key ally and arms supplier to Taiwan despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

But, Beijing considers the self-ruled island its own territory and hence is not willing to take any hint of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and other governments, as per The Standard.

China warned Washington ahead of the deal being inked by both sides against any pact "with connotations of sovereignty or of an official nature with China's Taiwan region."

In April, Beijing conducted three days of military exercises simulating a blockade of the island in response to US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen's meeting in California, reported The Standard.