Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said yesterday that he and Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming (陳德銘) had agreed to initiate official cross-strait talks on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) in October.
The ministry would make public an assessment report on the ECFA deal on Wednesday Yiin said. The two sides of the Taiwan Strait would conduct a joint study over the next two months on the proposed pact before official negotiations begin, he said.
His comments came after he met Chen and discussed the ECFA issue for the first time this week in Singapore on the sidelines of a two-day APEC forum there.
“Due to the strong willingness on both sides … The official discussion can be completed sometime before the end of this year,” he said.
If possible, the official talks might be completed in October or November so the actual signing of the framework document could take place during the next “Chiang-Chen” meeting, he said.
However, signing an ECFA “is not an issue that can be decided by Taiwan only,” he said.
The “Chiang-Chen” meetings are the negotiations between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林). The pair have met three times since last November. The exact time and place of a fourth meeting are under discussion.
Asked if the next “Chiang-Chen meeting” would touch on the ECFA issue, Yiin said he had no comment because the ministry doesn’t have the authority to speak for other government agencies.
In Singapore, Chen Deming “agreed to Taiwan’s three-step process in dealing with the ECFA issue, as well as Taiwan’s request of inclusion of an ‘early harvest clause’ in the pact,” Yiin said.
The three-step process refers to independent research on ECFA by both sides, which took place during the first half of this year, the ensuing three to nine months of joint study on the issue and then the official negotiations.
The two sides have held two private meetings on ECFA, which were crucial to reaching consensus, Yiin said, while the third meeting would be a formal process where officials would address sensitive commercial issues.
Under the proposed ECFA, the manufacturing sector would be included in the early harvest clause, but Yiin could not reveal which businesses would be involved.
In other news, Yiin dismissed speculations that government-led Taiwan Memory Co (TMC, 台灣記憶體公司) had failed to set an example in restructuring the local dynamic random access memory sector. He said TMC’s plan to rebuild the industry in Taiwan was on schedule.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS