Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said on Saturday he remains “cautious” about the ongoing negotiations across the Taiwan Strait for an agreement on investment protection.
Shih said although Taiwan and China have made some progress in narrowing down differences on an arbitration mechanism and the safety of Taiwanese investors operating in China, both sides still need some time to close the gap on the two issues.
When asked for comment on the negotiations, he said he was cautious about the talks and did not mention the word “optimistic” about the possible signing of an agreement by the end of this month as many observers had anticipated.
Taiwan and China failed to reach an agreement on a cross-strait investment protection in a major meeting held in Shanghai on Aug. 5.
The failure has prompted a postponement of the seventh round of top-level cross-strait talks.
Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) was previously scheduled to meet with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) last month to finalize two agreements on nuclear safety cooperation and investment protection.
After the postponement, it remains unclear whether the seventh round of talks will be held by the end of this month.
While Shih declined to disclose any more details about the negotiations, sources close to the talks said Taiwan and China were gearing up to strike a deal by the end of this month.
Japanese media reported earlier that Taipei and Tokyo were expected to sign an investment agreement this month as Taiwan attempts to forge better bilateral economic ties with its trading partners.
However, Shih said he did not know where the information reported by the Japanese media came from, adding that the future investment agreement between Taiwan and Japan was expected to cover investment promotion, investment protection and investment liberalization.
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