American scholars said in a video conference with Taiwan government officials and economic specialists Wednesday that while the United States needs trade policy to engage Asia and the expansion of the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) is seen as an opportunity, Taiwan still has difficulty playing a role. Ernie Bower, a senior adviser and director of the Southeast Asia Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), pointed out that the multilateral free trade agreement, which was signed 15 years ago by Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, was mentioned by U.S. President Barack Obama during a Nov. 14 speech in Tokyo. His announcement that the U.S. intends to engage its trade partners in shaping a broad-based regional agreement has inspired expectations that the TPP could become a process toward a framework for a free trade agreement for the Asia- Pacific region. Brower said, however, that the TPP as part of an FTA process is more of a goal or a new approach of the U.S. Democratic Party and that there is no time frame. Referring to a question from an official of Taiwan's Board of Foreign Trade as to whether the long term goal for U.S. engagement in TPP is to connect TPP to the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Bower suggested that the U.S. will first consider the pending free trade agreements with Korea and the inclusion of Japan. Charles Freeman, chairman of the CSIS Freeman Chair, said that while the U.S. needs a trade policy to engage Asia, 'the closest at hand is TPP to reshape the trade agenda.' He added, however, that the process 'doesn't mean much to Taiwan at present.' Both Freeman and Bower suggested that it is too early for Taiwan to expect linkage between TPP negotiation and APEC, of which Taiwan is a member. As to the question of whether the proposed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China will restrain Taiwan's FTA aspirations, Freeman suggested that Taiwan should maintain a balanced approach between ECFA and its traditional partners. Referring to the barriers to Taiwan inking free trade agreements with its trading partners, Freeman pointed out that China might mobilize its business lobby in Washington and meanwhile try to put pressure on its trading partners that are over-dependent on China's market to block Taiwan. Terry Cooke, senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said that 'any effort by China to undercut Taiwan's efforts will only undercut China's efforts to separate politics from economy.' The video conference was organized by the Office of Trade Negotiations under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, with Sherman Katz, fellow of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, a Washington-based think tank, as moderator. 