TAIWAN

Copyright Talks With U.S. Begin: A high-level Taiwanese delegation is seeking to stave off U.S. trade sanctions with assurances of a crackdown against alleged trademark and copyright piracy. Sheu Ke-sheng, director general of Taiwan’s Board of Foreign Trade, and his aides opened three days of consultations last week with a U.S. team headed by Robert Cassidy, assistant trade representative for Asia. The United States on April 29 declared Taiwan a center of copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting, serving notice that within 30 days it would launch an investigation that could bring sharply higher U.S. tariffs on imports from Taiwan.