The government is confident that with adequate coordination between the Cabinet and the Legis-lative Yuan, the passage of 14 revision bills designed to clear the way for Taiwan's entry into the WTO, will progress smoothly.
Michael Wei (魏可銘), deputy director of the Board of Foreign Trade (BOFT 國貿局) -- the agency tasked with directing Taiwan's bid to join the WTO -- told the Taipei Times there was "no doubt" lawmakers would put aside their partisan wrangling and work with the government to pass the bills.
"[The lawmakers] are very positive on these bills, they are all aware how important they are to our country," Wei said.
The revision of 41 bills -- in line with Taiwan's commitments to join the free-trade body -- was already approved by the legislature at the end of the last session in June.
Passage of the remaining 14 bills will be essential prior to Taiwan joining the WTO. Going into this week's working party meetings in Geneva on China's accession (upon which Taiwan's entry depends), official predictions are that both sides will achieve entry by early next year.
A decision this week to announce approval of China's bid at a WTO ministerial meeting in November -- and therefore Taiwan's -- would require some fast action by the legislature on the remaining laws.
Officials and pundits alike brushed aside suggestions that the opposition-dominated legislature may hold to their recent game plan of obstructing government initiatives, saying that the national importance of WTO entry is simply too great.
A New Party lawmaker, Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), said that as Taiwan's entry into the WTO appears imminent, opposition lawmakers will "cooperate fully with the government to pass the remaining legislation."
Norman Yin (殷乃平), professor of finance at National Chengchi University, agreed, saying that "there is more or less a consensus on the issue in the legislature. It's in the country's interest so I think they will pass the WTO package."
Hoping to avoid any last minute surprises, the Board of Foreign Trade is planning on holding a number of briefings for legislators on the importance of the legislation, Wei said.
Coordination between the Cabinet and the legislature will be guided by Vice Premier Lai Ing-jaw (賴英照) and Yao Eng-chi (饒穎奇), deputy speaker of the Legislative Yuan, Wei said.
The next legislative session is slated to begin in mid-September and run until next January. Legislative elections are set for December.
If the bills cannot be passed within that time "we will have a new legislative yuan and will have to do another briefing again," said Wei, further delaying Taiwan's bid to join the WTO.
BOFT director general Wu Wen-ya (
Once a decision is taken by WTO ministers to permit Taiwan to join, the nation's accession package must be approved by the legislature. According to WTO officials this usually takes at least six weeks or more.
Taiwan would become a WTO member 30 days after the organization receives notification of the legislature's approval.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last