Taiwanese are waiting with to see what kind of impact the country's admission to the WTO will have on their operations.
From fruit sellers to car importers, undertakers to housewives, everyone knows the WTO entry will undoubtedly have an affect on their lives. But they don't know if it will be good or bad.
"Our government is happy because joining WTO has raised Taiwan's international status, but industries and ordinary folks want to wait and see," shopkeeper Wang Hong-pin said.
The WTO, at its 4th ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, approved Taiwan's entry on Sunday. Taiwan is expected to become the WTO's 144th member on Jan. 1.
As a WTO member, Taiwan must remove trade barriers on goods from other members. To meet the requirements, Taipei has slashed tariffs by 36 percent on 1,021 farm products, and by 31 percent on 3,470 industrial products.
Taiwan, to protect its farmers, currently bans the import of certain fruits -- such as bananas, coconuts and pineapples -- and sets quotas for fruits from other countries.
"These restrictions will be removed gradually," said Lien Chung-yong, a Department of Agriculture official.
Taiwan has also made market-opening pledges for its first year after joining the WTO. Taiwan has promised to import 144,720 tons of rice -- 8 percent of Taiwan's annual consumption -- in the first year after entry. It will negotiate the second year's import quota with other WTO members.
"Taiwanese don't like to eat foreign rice, but we must open the market. If foreign rice does not taste good, we can use it to make cakes. It can still sell if the price is low," Department of Agriculture official Lee Yuan said.
Other products affected are alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and sugar. The state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp (TaiSugar,
Because of the high costs of labor in Taiwan, a kilogram of sugar produced by TaiSugar sells for US$1.50. A kilogram of imported sugar sells for US$0.50.
"The number of our sugar plants will fall from the current nine to four by 2005. To survive, our company has branched out into other businesses like raising pigs, growing orchids and building shopping malls," TaiSugar spokesperson Chen Hsueh-min said.
Joining the WTO will also affect Taiwan funeral parlors. A Japanese undertaker has made inquiries into opening a branch in Taiwan to provide "cleaner and more humane services for the dead."
"But Taiwan has many customs, so it's unlikely foreign undertakers can break into our market in the near future," said Hsieh Ying-chen, spokesperson for Taiwan's largest funeral parlor, the Lung Yen Group (龍巖集團).
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