A new round of free-trade negotiations under the WTO would help pull the nation's economy out of recession and at last offer Taiwan a voice in formulating new rules for the global economy, officials said.
But as of press time last night, ministers at the fourth ministerial meeting of the WTO in Doha, Qatar were still working feverishly into the night to hammer out the topics and details of a new round, including the contentious debate over an end to farm export subsidies, which the Europeans vehemently oppose.
Steve Chen (
Indeed, topics negotiated for inclusion into a new round such as cutting by a third barriers to trade in agriculture, manufacturing and services would provide a substantial boost the world economy, according to the WTO.
Chen said Taiwan would be very interested in participating in discussions regarding non-trade concerns including environmental issues, maintaining produce standards in the agriculture sector and a review of lowering customs tariffs based on the circumstances of every member.
Failure of ministers from the 142-member countries to agree on the launch of a new round would "influence the credibility of its multilateral system of trade negotiations," Chen said.
The vacuum left by a comprehensive review of the multilateral trade system could spur more regional and bilateral trade agreements -- an eventuality Chen says would undermine the WTO and its most basic principle of extending free and equal trade rights to all.
While Chen's remarks have been echoed by other delegates who have said the failure to start a new round of talks would cripple the organization, WTO director general Mike Moore has said that the trade body still has a critical role to play.
According to Chen Po-chih (
"WTO is becoming the first world government and many of the world's regulations for doing business will be drawn up in the WTO. If we cannot participate in that discussion we would loose out because we have a special status in the world economy -- we are not an advanced country and we are not a developing country," Chen said.
Taiwan entered the WTO as a developed country, which, as opposed to developing-country status means a greater opening of its markets.
"This special status makes Taiwan's medium-sized economy fair game for high-quality imports from developed countries such as the US, along with cheap products from developing countries such as China," Chen said.
"If we didn't have representation in WTO negotiations, the new rules would overlook the existence of middle-income countries like Taiwan," Chen said.
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