Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) yesterday said Taiwan aims to make “big progress” toward entering the Trans--Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade bloc within the next five to six years, with the long-term goal of joining the TPP in 10 years.
Shih told a legislative session that entry into the TPP would prevent Taiwan from being economically marginalized in the region and that it was desirable to join the bloc as soon as possible.
However, Shih said the ministry was still collecting and analyzing information on the trade deal because there are vast differences in terms of economic liberalization among the various members and issues, such as intellectual property rights, are yet to be finalized.
The TPP aims to achieve a zero-tariff regime by 2015. With this in mind, Shih said, the ministry has to gather more information, including whether Taiwan would be able to meet the necessary criteria.
The government also needs to approach each of the current nine TPP members individually for further discussions, he added.
The TPP began as a multilateral trade agreement between four APEC members — Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore — in 2005, and has since gradually expanded to include Australia, Malaysia, Peru, the US and Vietnam.
Last week, Japan said it would participate in the TPP talks, while both Mexico and Canada on Sunday also expressed interest in -entering into the bloc.
Steven Yang (楊家彥), a director at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台經院), lauded the ministry’s aggressiveness in pursuing the entry to the TPP.
“The TPP is a great pan-Asia--Pacific economic integration plan and the government should make it one of its top priorities in its policy formulation,” he said by telephone yesterday.
This is because contrary to bilateral free-trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region that mostly involve emerging economies, the TPP’s scope is much larger and involves advanced economies, such as Australia and the US.
Membership in the bloc could also help Taiwan develop better trade ties with bigger economies, he said.
However, Taiwan has no say in whether it would be able to become a member.
“The US, incoming member Japan, as well as China, would all be very influential in the membership process as it will involve some wrestling of political forces,” Yang said.
Moreover, analysts have also said that efforts by the TPP to knock down trade barriers, such as substantial cuts in agricultural tariffs, could make the negotiation process difficult and time-consuming.
The ministry has said the current bilateral feasibility study on an economic trade pact with New Zealand, announced last month, would enhance Taiwan’s appeal with regard to TPP membership.
New Zealand is the second country after Singapore to have entered official talks with Taiwan on signing a free-trade agreement since the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement was inked with China in June last year.
In addition to Singapore and New Zealand, India, Indonesia and the Philippines have expressed interest in signing trade pacts with Taiwan, but have not yet entered official talks.
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