The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it is considering negotiating with its Chinese counterpart on a broader range of products to be covered in the cross-strait agreement on trade in response to China and South Korea’s signing a bilateral trade agreement.
After a three-hour meeting in Seoul on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and South Korean President Park Geun-hye issued a joint statement that Seoul and Beijing would work to complete a long-negotiated free-trade agreement by the end of the year.
In response, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) told a media briefing that he felt “highly agitated” about China and South Korea signing a free-trade agreement because the pact is likely to cause the nation’s businesses to lose competitiveness with their South Korean peers.
“We need to have a much better discussions about helping Taiwanese companies become more competitive with their South Korean counterparts, but the key is to let the already inked cross-strait service trade pact get ratification from the legislature first,” Duh said.
Duh said the ministry’s trade negotiation office is revising its strategies and considering negotiating a longer list of products to be covered in the cross-strait agreement on trade in goods.
The ministry said Taiwan’s panel, petrochemical and machinery industries would suffer the brunt of the new free-trade deal. Taiwan is competing with South Korea in those sectors.
Taiwanese academics have also expressed concern about the agreement between China and South Korea.
Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research’s WTO and RTA center deputy executive director, Roy Lee (李淳) told CNA that after the signing of the agreement, Taiwan will suffer an impact in a short-time frame.
“Between 50 percent and 80 percent of Taiwan’s export items overlap with those of South Korea,” Lee said.
As China is also developing its own panel industry, it probably will not allow zero tariffs for South Korea, but even if China reduces tariffs in seven to 10 years, it will still curb Taiwan’s panel sector.
He said that Taiwan has enjoyed a trade surplus of between US$80 billion and US$90 billion with China over the past few years, while its trade surplus with the rest of the world has totaled US$30 billion.
“If Taiwan’s trade surplus with China is reduced, its trade surplus with the rest of the world will also be reduced,” he said. This, coupled with high tariffs, could induce an even faster exodus of domestic industries, according to Lee.
Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) Microeconomic Forecasting Center director Gordon Sun (孫明德), said that China is also the largest export destination for South Korea, accounting for 30 percent of its total exports.
“If China also completes the signing of a free-trade agreement with Japan, then Taiwan will be marginalized,” he said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
RSS