Taiwan needs China’s support to join the next round of Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations as China is the largest trading partner of six of the 12 TPP members, Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) said yesterday.
“Given those TPP members’ close trading relationships with China, it is unavoidable that those countries will consider China’s stance before expressing support for Taiwan,” Deng said in an interview with UFO Radio program host Tang Hsiang-lung (唐湘龍).
With import value reaching US$200 billion to US$300 billion a year in Taiwan, “there is a chance for us to join the next round of TPP negotiations,” Deng said.
Photo: Huang Pei-chun, Taipei Times
He said the degree of openness of the trade bloc is extremely high with few exceptions, and the transition period during which tariffs have to be cut to as low as zero ranges from five years to 10 years, which is generally shorter than most free-trade agreements.
Taiwan therefore needs to work harder to gain all 12 TPP members’ approval, when most of them hold a conservative view regarding Taiwan’s bid to join the regional bloc, Deng said.
“We also need China’s ‘no objection’ in this matter,” he said, adding that only when Taiwan gains approval from China and other members could the nation join the next round of negotiations.
Commenting on the US pork import issue, which has widely been seen as a key to gaining US support to join the TPP, Deng said the government will need to deal with the issue eventually.
“The government will continue to separate permits for importing beef and pork for the time being, but eventually the government has to deal with it,” Deng said. “It is just not the time yet.”
The US has said several times that Taiwan should handle food safety measures, including US beef and pork imports, in a way that is consistent with international standards and based on science.
However, domestic farmers have voiced strong opposition to US pork imports, questioning the safety of the meat and saying they are worried about the impact imports would have on their business.
US Deputy Trade Representative Robert Holleyman on Oct. 1 told a news conference in Taipei that he cannot speculate whether the pork issue would affect Taiwan’s bid to join the TPP negotiations, but the issue does complicate the ongoing discussions about a bilateral investment agreement between Taiwan and the US.
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