Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) recently commented on “the beauty” of Taiwan’s Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) early harvest list.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his government view the ECFA as an enormously important undertaking and the early harvest list as a massive victory.
However, US economist Lester Thurow cast a damper on the government’s joy when he said the ECFA is not all that important and that the key to Taiwan’s competitiveness lies in innovation.
After hearing Thurow’s comments, the Ma administration, which has consistently placed its hopes on China, said that now the ECFA has been inked, the government will present innovative industry strategies this month.
The problem is that most countries start with an industry development strategy and then negotiate trade agreements with other nations based on that strategy. That’s what China did when negotiating the ECFA with Taiwan.
Beijing is now taking energy conservation and carbon reduction seriously and recently announced that some export tariff rebates will be canceled for industries that consume vast amounts of energy such as the iron and steel industries. It was thus only natural for China to generously allow Taiwan to include iron, steel, cement and metal products in the early harvest list.
Because Beijing is upgrading its industries, its industrial strategy is aimed at replacing old industries with newer ones. Panels, high-end machine tools, petroleum refining and solar power are all important industries for future development. That is why China ignored Ma’s requests to include the first three of these items on Taiwan’s early harvest list. As for solar power, China has crucial raw materials such as rare metals and silicon, which were also excluded from Taiwan’s early harvest list.
Panels were not included because this will force Taiwanese businesses to invest in the Chinese panel industry. Materials such as polyamide, polycarbonate, polyoxymethylene, polybutylene terephthalate and polyphenylene oxide, synthetic rubber and synthetic fibers, as well as select high-end precision machinery items were also excluded in order to give China more control in upgrading these areas as it sees fit.
In addition to economic strategies, China has political strategies, and put in a great deal of effort to come up with a set of positive numbers to win over the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese. Petrochemicals were not listed on the early harvest list, along with the aforementioned resins, plastics and fibers.
Instead, Beijing reduced tariffs on products already as low as 1 or 2 percent and allowed some machine tools in areas where Taiwan is no longer competitive, just to make the numbers look better without making any real effort.
China had its political and economic strategy clear from the start and sent experts to negotiate with Taiwan. In contrast, the Ma administration set a deadline for signing the pact and allowed government officials to become too passive.
Only now is the government confident enough to turn around and promise the rolling out of a new industrial strategy. Unfortunately, even this strategy is in danger of being controlled by China. The government is highlighting the numbers on the list in an attempt to demonstrate that it has done its due diligence, when the truth is that it has sold itself and the rest of us down the river by allowing China to get exactly what it wanted.
Lin Cho-shui is a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry