Cross-strait trade relations have recently become closer and the issue of how Taiwan should maintain its sovereignty in the face of China’s strong “magnetic effect” is receiving increasing attention.
In the upcoming presidential election, voters are certain to pay special attention to the cross-strait policies of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). In response, the DPP’s presidential candidates have busied themselves setting up think tanks and developing policy platforms. If the DPP puts pragmatism before ideology, the people of Taiwan are sure to benefit. The party needs to boost its approach to national status and cross-strait trade issues.
However, the public has reservations about whether the DPP has pragmatic solutions for dealing with cross-strait agricultural and fishing exchanges that can compete with those of the KMT.
The farming and fishing industries are often neglected until elections. Then they become linked to the issue of livelihood, and so a hot topic. The ruling party tends to favor quick fixes, using agricultural subsidies, and the opposition does little more than berate this and a lack of better solutions.
Regardless of the party in power, our farmers are still stuck at the bottom of the social pile.
The KMT opened up access to the Chinese market. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has declared many times that Taiwan would sell its fruit to China, not the other way round, which is an oversimplification. Indeed, statistics show the effects of the government’s efforts have fallen short of expectations. In 2009, Taiwan imported US$549 million of agricultural produce from China and exported US$364 million, a deficit of US$185 million. Most farmers and fishermen have yet to receive any real benefit from closer cross-strait relations — they have in fact lost out because of smuggling and technology transfers. This has distorted the market and impacted the production and marketing of agricultural products.
When the government was promoting cross-strait exchanges in farming and fishing, China’s products entered Taiwan, while Taiwan’s core agricultural capabilities, such as prime crop varieties, technology and skills, migrated to China. This poses a threat to Taiwan, which is reliant on the export of agricultural products.
While the government has said preventive mechanisms are in place, money keeps being lost and this has seen farmers and fishermen become increasingly skeptical about the government’s competence.
The DPP has always been good at creating the image of a party that speaks for the disadvantaged. This has made it popular with grassroots voters. However, in central and southern Taiwan, where the DPP has long been strong, farmers and fishermen have not benefitted because of a lack of agricultural policies that are forward-looking, conservative and protectionist.
The DPP has based a lot of its ideas on resisting the importation of 830 agricultural items from China, as well as Chinese labor, but lacks a comprehensive farming and fisheries policy. In fact, these products should never have been prohibited; rather, they should be gradually opened up for import over time. The DPP needs to adopt a broader view and accept prevailing trends, focusing on “specialization” to help create a new future for Taiwan’s agricultural and fishing industries, clearly differentiating its agricultural policies from the KMT’s.
China is not only a large producer of agricultural products, it is also a big consumer. Therefore, cross-strait agricultural exchanges should be based primarily upon trade in agricultural products and secondly on investment in agriculture. Taiwan’s agricultural and fishing products should be sold around the world. China is only part of the global market.
If Taiwanese invest in China’s agricultural and fishing industries, Taiwan’s domestic market will be hurt, especially if they take experience and technological skills with them and combine these with China’s resources and cheap labor. This would see China develop an advantage through economies of scale that would threaten the survival of Taiwan’s farmers and fishermen. Therefore, those investing in China should be careful and break their investments up into different timeframes to avoid irreversible damage to Taiwan’s agricultural and fishing industries.
Issues that don’t normally attract much attention often become crucial during elections. Good policies and positive action win votes. When the KMT and DPP are developing their policies, they should listen to the public.
Lee Wu-chung is a professor of agricultural economics at National Taiwan University.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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
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