New trade office brings together experts

The Office of Trade Negotiations, the major body that will be entrusted with the nation's trade negotiations, was inaugurated yesterday with John Deng (鄧振中), former deputy representative at Taiwan's representative office in the US, as chief negotiator.

"We hope to further expand Taiwan's international trade presence and push through integration with major trade partners," Deng said at the inauguration ceremony.

The establishment of the office will enhance the efficiency and expertise of trade negotiations, which were previously divided and assigned to various government departments, mainly to the Bureau of Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Deng, 54, received his master's degree in civil law from George Washington University in the US, and his bachelor's degree at Soochow University's law school.

Before serving his term at the representative office in the US, Deng held the positions of deputy permanent representative to the WTO, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, director of the economic division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US and director of the multilateral affairs division at the Bureau of Foreign Trade.

Jenni Yang (楊珍妮), counselor at Taiwan's Permanent Mission to the WTO, will join the office as a deputy chief negotiator in charge of WTO affairs, Deng said.

The imminent works of the office are negotiations with Panama regarding the execution of the Taiwan-Panama free trade agreement (FTA) in the middle of next month, and another round of FTA talks with the Dominican Republic at the end of next month, Deng said.

As the WTO's Doha round talks -- which were suspended last July over agricultural disputes -- show signs of resuming, the office will review its negotiation strategies and make Taiwan a more active participant in the world trade body, Deng said.

Taiwan is also in urgent need of signing bilateral or multilateral free trade pacts with major trade partners, such as the US, as regional and bilateral FTAs have been mushrooming in the international community, Deng said.

The US is Taiwan's third-largest trade partner after China and Japan, with bilateral trade reaching US$55.02 billion last year. The US is reluctant to launch FTA talks with Taiwan, though Taiwan has shown a keen interest in signing a US-Taiwan FTA for years.

Despite the setback, Deng said the office would push for an FTA after the US concludes an FTA with South Korea and trade agreements with Peru, Panama and Columbia.

Meanwhile, the US and South Korea are nearing the biggest FTA for the US since it launched the North American FTA in 1994. The pact will put Taiwanese companies at a disadvantage, said Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬), director-general of Bureau of Foreign Trade.

The US is Taiwan's major export destination, while South Korea is a major competitor, Huang said.

The free trade pact is expected to slash tariffs considerably on electronics, information technology products and electric machines, which may prompt US firms to shift orders from Taiwanese suppliers to South Korean companies, Huang said.