By Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the US and Australia for reiterating the importance of cross-strait peace and stability and supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in international organizations.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, along with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong (黃英賢) and Minister for Defence Richard Marles “reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and their shared opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo” in a joint statement issued after the four met in Brisbane, Australia, for the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations on Saturday.
Cross-strait issues should be resolved peacefully through dialogue, without the threat or use of force or coercion, the statement said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
As Taiwan is a leading economy and democracy in the Indo-Pacific region, the US and Australia reiterated their commitment to “work together to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, to deepen economic, trade and people-to-people ties,” it said, adding that they are “committed” to enhancing development coordination with Taiwan in the Pacific.
It also said they discussed deepening Quadrilateral Security Dialogue cooperation with India and Japan “in support of an open, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”
They also encouraged Beijing to “engage constructively with the United States and to take steps to promote stability and transparency,” it said.
In Taipei, the ministry expressed gratitude to Washington and Canberra for firmly supporting Taiwan in their joint statements.
The statements demonstrate that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait has become an international consensus, the ministry said, adding that Taiwan plays a key role in the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and the world.
In other news, the US Senate Committee on Finance announced its plan to prepare bipartisan tax legislation between the US and Taiwan when the US Congress reconvenes in September.
US Senate Committee on Finance Chairman Ron Wyden and US Senator Mike Crapo said in a statement released on Thursday that “we look forward to moving this legislation forward in a bipartisan manner.”
The statement refers to a discussion on drafting double taxation legislation between the US and Taiwan, which was proposed by Wyden and Crapo, together with US House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith and US Representative Richard Neal on July 12.
The proposed bill would reduce withholding taxes on dividends, interest and royalties paid on US-Taiwan cross-border investments, and mitigate barriers for smaller businesses to make those investments, the House committee said in a news release.
Wyden and Crapo said that the committees had been working together to “find creative ways to promptly extend significant tax treaty-like benefits for American and Taiwanese workers and businesses operating across our borders.”
A lack of official relations with the US precludes Taiwan from entering into a formal tax treaty with it to resolve double taxation issues.
The committees completed collecting comments on the discussion draft on Monday last week.
Earlier this month, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations passed the Taiwan Tax Agreement Act, advocating for Washington to enter into negotiations with Taipei on the avoidance of double taxation.
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