Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (
Taiwan will no longer accept names like "Separate Customs Territory of Taipei, Penghu, Kin-men and Matsu" (TPKM) or "Chi-nese Taipei," Lin said. Meanwhile, Taiwan's FTA talks with Singapore have run aground because the government would not accept the name TPKM in the agreement.
It is deplorable that the FTA talks have run aground, but the people of Taiwan should be asking whether the government has wisely sought optimum benefit for the country during the negotiation.
Lin said TPKM blurs Taiwan's status, and that "economic entity" can at least nevertheless highlight the nation's sovereignty even though it does not signify a politically independent entity.
Is this judgment objective or subjective?
The term "separate customs territory" came from the article on accession to the WTO and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Article XXXIII of the GATT stipulates, "... a government acting on behalf of a separate customs territory possessing full autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations and of the other matters provided for in this Agreement, may accede to this Agreement ... on behalf of that territory, on terms to be agreed between such government and the Contracting Parties." Apparently, in the GATT accession article, "government" is the subject filing for application and "separate customs territory" is the operating unit.
The WTO inherited this functional accession rule from the GATT. Article 12 of the agreement says: "Any State or separate customs territory possessing full autonomy in the conduct of its external commercial relations and of the other matters provided for in this Agreement and the Multilateral Trade Agreements may accede to this Agreement."
Moreover, the "Explanatory Notes" of the Marrakesh Agreement say, "The terms `country' or `countries' as used in this Agreement and the Multilateral Trade Agreements are to be understood to include any separate customs territory Member of the WTO." Therefore, all members, be they "countries" or "separate customs territories," are full and equal members after they join the WTO.
According to GATT/WTO articles, TPKM has an independent and complete legal status. The WTO Agreement and its annexes are part of the international law created by treaties. Therefore, the legal status of TPKM has a basis in international law.
But why does our government feel that TPKM blurs the nation's status? I believe this is because Beijing has constantly claimed that China joined the WTO as a country, but Taiwan joined as a separate customs territory, so Taiwan is "China's" separate customs territory -- thereby making the government feel that TPKM has given Beijing something to exploit.
But isn't it a remake of Beijing's three-part argument, "There is only one China in the world -- the People's Republic of China; Tai-wan is part of China; therefore, Taiwan is part of the PRC?" We can ignore China's three-part argument. Why should we abandon TPKM because of Beijing's three-part WTO argument?
Our government applied for GATT accession in 1990 and faced Beijing's many attempts at obstruction. After Taiwan's application for GATT/WTO membership gained widespread support, Beijing still attempted to add "China's" to the name "the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu."
Beijing did not succeed even though it applied great pressure. Why? Because WTO members based their considerations on their own economic interests, and it would be in their best interest if both sides of the Taiwan Strait joined the WTO. And the GATT/WTO legal basis was exactly what allowed them to resist Beijing's pressure in an upstanding manner.
The entire world knows that Beijing's arguments had no legal basis, but why we are still feeling hurt and mired in self-pity?
"Economic entity" may sound like having more individualistic character, but there is no such term in international law. Seeking this name is undoubtedly a matter of subjective, wishful thinking.
Being small, Taiwan can only hope to use wisdom to outmaneuver the giant of China, which holds a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and is growing stronger economically by the day. All countries in the international community seek their own self-interest. We must strengthen their capacity to resist Beijing.
In terms of objective international law, Taiwan joined the WTO as the "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu," and the WTO allows members to sign free-trade agreements separately. Isn't the "separate customs territory" the most advantageous term for these countries to resist Beijing's pressure?
Taiwan joined the WTO after so much effort, and official contact on economic and trade matters is no longer rejected. But amid regional integration and a wave of free-trade agreements, Taiwan is once again facing the danger of being marginalized. Seeking a name that has individuality is certainly an ideal, but if we can more quickly benefit by using a name that has a perfect legal basis under international law, why shouldn't it be a blessing for the people?
Cho Hui-wan is an assistant professor in the Graduate Institute of International Politics at National Chung Hsing University.
Translated by Francis Huang
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trip to China provides a pertinent reminder of why Taiwanese protested so vociferously against attempts to force through the cross-strait service trade agreement in 2014 and why, since Ma’s presidential election win in 2012, they have not voted in another Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate. While the nation narrowly avoided tragedy — the treaty would have put Taiwan on the path toward the demobilization of its democracy, which Courtney Donovan Smith wrote about in the Taipei Times in “With the Sunflower movement Taiwan dodged a bullet” — Ma’s political swansong in China, which included fawning dithyrambs