Taipei and Beijing are set to hold the second round of negotiations on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) in Taipei tomorrow and on Thursday, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said yesterday.
The foundation said in a statement that the Chinese delegation would arrive today. However, there appeared to be some confusion over the location of the meeting.
At 10am, the SEF sent a text message to reporters saying the talks would take place in “Taipei.” This was changed to the “greater Taipei area” in a message sent 16 minutes later.
Taiwan’s delegation will be led by Bureau of Foreign Trade (BFT) Director-General Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬) and will include department heads of the trade bureau and the SEF, the Mainland Affairs Council, the Financial Advisory Commission and the Industrial Development Bureau.
Xinhua news agency described the meeting as “expert-level talks,” adding that it was to “pave the way for a long-awaited economic deal that is expected to boost cross-strait economic ties.”
The two sides held the first round of negotiations in January. During the second round, talks are expected to focus on the “early harvest” items proposed for traded goods and services. Discussions are also to be held on the draft agreement and arrangements for future negotiations.
Taiwan’s government has said it hoped to sign the trade deal during the first half of this year.
Yang Yi (楊毅), spokesman of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference on March 17 that the two sides should work to complete the pact by June.
Meanwhile, Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) said signing an ECFA was one of the administration’s top priorities this year. The government also hoped to encourage investment in research and development, economize energy use, cut carbon dioxide emissions and create jobs, he said.
He made the remarks when meeting Standard Chartered Group chairman John Peace at the Presidential Office yesterday morning.
Siew said the economy had bounced back from the bottom and all economic indicators showed signs of a speedy recovery.
He said he had seen no signs that the economy is overheating and that concerns about soaring real estate prices were limited to Taipei City and were not serious.
The administration has predicted the economy will grow 4.72 percent this year.
Siew said the goal was to keep the unemployment rate below 5 percent this year. Unemployment was 2.85 percent in 2000, but the figure jumped to 5.85 percent last year and 5.65 percent last month.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS