Taiwan WTO team is smiling

Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said on Friday that the WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle had actually helped boost the country's bid to join the Geneva-based world trade regulatory body.

Although the meeting wrapped up without having achieved progress on key issues of labor, the environment and investment due to sharp differences between developed and developing countries, Wang pointed out that the meeting had virtually nothing to do with the question of Taiwan's membership, and will not affect the country's entry bid.

The postponement of setting a final agenda for the next round of trade talks would actually give Taiwan a better chance to more fully participate in the organization when talks do resume, he said.

"Taiwan's top priority at the present stage is to enter the WTO, and the fiasco of this round of negotiations will not hamper Taiwan's prospects of becoming a WTO member," he said.

Wang further pointed out that no problems arose over the designation issue concerning the Taiwan's WTO membership.

"We'll join the WTO in the name of `Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (TPKM) Independent Customs Territory,'" the minister said, adding that the abbreviation of Taiwan's full WTO title will be "Chinese Taipei." Taiwan adopted the TPKM designation when it first filed its membership application with the WTO's precursor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), in 1990.