Although Taiwan has lagged behind some of its neighbors in talks on forming regional trade agreements (RTAs), it will catch up with the trend after its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), officials attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings said yesterday.
"Currently Taiwan is at the last stage of its accession to the WTO, but we don't want to be excluded from taking part in RTAs. The related studying is ongoing, and we'll take positive moves to push for related talks" once Taiwan has entered the WTO, said Lin Hsin-yi (林信義), Minister of Economic Affairs, in a press conference yesterday.
Taiwan apparently showed its concern over the emerging trend of RTA talks as Lin extended Taiwan's hope of learning related know-how from George Yeo, Minister for Trade and Industry from Singapore, one of the most enthusiastic advocate of RTAs, during their bilateral talk yesterday.
Lin also held bilateral talks with his counterparts from Australia and South Korea yesterday.
"Taiwan realized that Singapore was ready to enter into such arrangements with as many APEC members as possible. So we'll conduct our assessment very soon, with the hope to begin related consultations in a timely manner," said Steve Chen (
Lin went on to explain the rationale behind Singapore's move to push for related RTA talks. "Although Singapore perceives the multilateral framework [of the WTO] as the best approach to facilitate trade liberalization, it does have some structural constraints. So, in a way, Singapore intends to use RTAs to speed up the WTO trade talks," Lin said.
Mitsuru Taniuchi, Chair of APEC's Economic Committee, seemed to share Singapore's view.
"The difficulty in the WTO is that the cost of negotiation is very high. Because many members are involved, it's not easy to agree on extended items," Taniuchi said when responding to a question from the Taipei Times during a briefing yesterday afternoon. "In contrast, the fact is that talks on RTAs may only involve two to three countries, the cost of negotiations is much lower than that carried out under the WTO," Taniuchi added.
"There is a good chance that the new regionalism [referring to RTAs] will open new opportunities to advance multilateral trade liberalization," said Taniuchi, who is also Japan's Deputy Director-General of the Coordination Bureau under the Economic Planning Agency.
To make this happen, Taniuchi said RTAs should be consistent with the WTO, as well as being open to non-members and comprehensive coverage that goes beyond trade.
Taniuchi stressed that trade talks on the WTO level as well as arrangements of RTAs are not necessarily in conflict, adding: "The key question is whether the new regionalism is a building block or a stumbling block for multilateralism," Taniuchi said.
But the answer to that question remained a contentious one, according to a related study carried out by APEC's research body.
The emerging trend towards forming RTAs, both bilateral and multilateral, has been dubbed "new regionalism" in the report. Many new initiatives are underway to form RTAs in the APEC region and beyond. For instance, ministers of ASEAN, New Zealand and Australia agreed last month to work toward a closer economic partnership between their existing trading arrangements.
Taniuchi briefed reporters on several reports the committee would submit to ministerial meetings scheduled to convene today. Other reports included the future of APEC economies beyond the Asian financial crisis, the prospect of developing knowledge-based economies in APEC, as well as the impact of higher oil prices on APEC economies.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials said yesterday China would host the APEC meetings next year with established protocol under APEC's umbrella when dealing with the question of Taiwan's participation in the intergovernmental forum.
"China will host next year's APEC meetings in accordance with established protocol, and this is something that can't be changed," said Wu Hailong (吳海龍), deputy director-general of department of international organizations under China's ministry of foreign affairs.
"Everything will be dealt with according to precedent established under APEC as well as the 1991 memorandums of understanding," Wu added.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft