Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) expressed hope yesterday that tariffs agreements, particularly one on avoiding double taxation, could be signed in the next round of cross-strait talks.
The fourth round of talks between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) is scheduled to be held next month in Taichung.
Lee told a hearing of the legislature’s Finance Committee that the foundation and ARATS negotiators had not discussed the tariffs issues, but would do so before the next SEF-ARATS meeting.
“We hope that the tariff talks will focus on avoiding double taxation and the exchange of taxation information across the Strait,” Lee said in response to questions raised by several legislators about the schedule for signing a tariff agreement.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) asked Lee whether his ministry had talked to or attempted to communicate with Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China about plans to sign a tariff agreement.
Once such an agreement is signed, information about Taiwanese companies, including their financing, would be completely exposed to Chinese tax authorities, the lawmaker said.
“Has the Ministry of Finance given a thought to how Taiwanese operating in China should protect themselves?” Lu asked.
Lee said the proposed cross-strait tariff agreement would not have a negative impact on Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China.
“For example, avoiding double taxation will help them save on taxes, instead of increasing taxes,” Lee said.
The ministry would first seek legislative approval on an amendment before signing any tariff agreement with China, he said.
Meanwhile, the legislature’s
Economics Committee decided yesterday to ask the Executive Yuan to raise the issue of protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in the fifth round of cross-strait talks, scheduled for the first half of next year.
Both ruling and opposition legislators on the committee approved a resolution demanding that relevant agencies raise the issue with China.
Their decision was aimed at protecting the IPR of Taiwan’s businesses at a time when many of their trademarks have been pirated by Chinese businesses, legislators said.
The lawmakers also asked that the IPR issue be discussed during next month’s talks.
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