A steel-dumping dispute between Taiwan and China may bring the two political rivals to the negotiating table for the first time under the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
After refusing for months to conduct bilateral talks with Taiwan, China notified Taiwan's WTO representative office in Geneva late last month of its intent to open negotiations with Taiwan to discuss Taiwan's China-bound exports of cold-rolled steel.
"It will be a fixed-topic negotiation," John Deng (
Deng added that the representative office is still waiting for Taipei's instructions before responding to China's offer.
In the letter, China, however, referred to Taiwan's WTO representative office as the "WTO economic and trade office," instead of its official title, "the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu."
On Thursday, Taiwan's permanent representative to the WTO, Yen Ching-chang (
Yen refused to comment on whether the potential face-to-face trade talks under the global body would be hindered by the move, according to local media.
"It's Taipei's call, but our delegation will begin preparing for talks," Yen was quoted as saying.
But back in Taipei, Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (
Taiwan plans to send a delegation to Geneva next week to deal with the steel issue, according to foreign trade officials in Taipei.
Despite the name issue, pundits yesterday were upbeat about the possibility of breaking the ice on trade talks with China.
"We look forward to any chance of launching government-to-government cross-strait trade talks," said Wang Chung-yu (
Wang, who is also a KMT legislator, however, expressed concern that resolving disputes under the WTO framework will be very time-consuming. He said that he is not optimistic that such negotiations will reach any conclusions soon.
Tien Jiun-mei (
"It's better to talk to each other to resolve trade disputes," Tien said.
"If negotiations work, this may help [the two nations] make headway at setting up a dispute-solving mechanism for future cross-strait trade relations."
Taiwan's steel industry suffers from oversupply and exports some 60 to 90 percent of its steel production to China,Tien said.
In return, China may seek to persuade Taiwan to open up its steel markets during negotiations, she said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS