President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was evasive yesterday when asked if a planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with Beijing would lead to a “one China market,” but said the pact would eventually establish “something similar to a free-trade area.”
The two sides of the Taiwan Strait would form such an area in the spirit of the WTO, which both countries belong to, Ma said in an interview with the Taipei Times.
“A free-trade agreement [FTA] or any similar trade agreement have many forms,” he said.
“Some are called FTAs and some are called economic partnership arrangements, but they are all regional free-trade agreements under the WTO,” he said.
Ma said the reason that his administration wants the pact with Beijing is because China is Taiwan’s biggest trading partner and that once an ECFA is signed, the obstruction to Taiwan’s effort to sign FTAs with ASEAN countries would be reduced.
“We have encountered numerous obstacles over the past years [in signing FTAs]” Ma said. “China is one of the major factors.”
Major export partners, such as Japan and South Korea, totally ignored Taiwan’s push for FTAs with them because of China’s intimidation, he said.
Taiwan also has to aggressively participate in regional economic integration to avoid being “isolated economically,” he said.
“Signing the ECFA is just the beginning,” he said, expressing the hope that closer trade ties with China would help Taiwan clear some hurdles in negotiations on trade pacts with other countries.
There is no guarantee, however, that it will open opportunities for more FTA talks, he said.
Ma said he realized it was not Beijing’s policy to help Taiwan ink FTAs with other countries, but he said if Taiwan continues to be isolated internationally, it would be hard to boost cross-strait relations.
Ma has promised not to allow the import of more agricultural products and workers from China, and yesterday he denied the government would be coerced into fully opening the markets in 10 years. Any country facing such a difficulty could explain the problem to the WTO, he said.
Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 states that the “reasonable length of time” for opening markets should exceed 10 years only in exceptional cases.
In cases where members believe that 10 years would be insufficient, they have to provide a full explanation to the Council for Trade in Goods on the need for a longer period.
The WTO does not require any member to open its labor market, he said.
“The labor issue is not included in the regulations of the WTO. Not a single WTO member is forced to import laborers,” Ma said.
There has been widespread concern among the public and economists that an ECFA with China could exacerbate Taiwan’s already vulnerable labor market and agriculture sector.
At a separate setting yesterday, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said the first round of official ECFA negotiations would be held at the end of this month as scheduled.
Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬), head of the Bureau of Foreign Trade, and Tang Wei (唐煒), director of the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Department under China’s Ministry of Commerce, will chair the negotiations, Shih said.
The agenda of the first round will not touch on substantive issues such as the proposed “early harvest list” of industries that would be first to benefit from an ECFA and only general suggestions regarding the procedure will be discussed, Shih said.
The Cabinet intends to keep the process of negotiations very transparent with the participation of the legislature, Shih said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique