Taipei and Beijing will hold a preparatory meeting in Taipei tomorrow to iron out final differences on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) before top negotiators from both sides meet next week to sign the deal.
In a statement, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), executive deputy director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, and his delegation would arrive in Taipei today and hold talks with the foundation’s vice chairman, Kao Koong-liang (高孔廉), tomorrow. It did not say where the meeting would be held.
The statement said Kao and Zheng would conduct a final round of confirmations on the text of the accord and negotiations on the “early harvest” lists.
The early harvest lists refer to goods and services that will be subject to immediate tariff concessions or exemptions, which are expected to form the backbone of the proposed deal.
The two sides will also finalize an agreement on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and the time and place of the meeting between Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunling (陳雲林).
While unconfirmed reports say the Chiang-Chen meeting could take place in Chongqing, China, next Wednesday, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) declined to confirm the location, but said it would be announced tomorrow.
However, he said the talks would not last as long as previous rounds because there would be no sightseeing involved.
As soon as the preparatory meeting concludes, Liu said the negotiation team would brief Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
The foundation would also make Taiwan’s early harvest list public tomorrow, Liu said, but the content of the agreement would not be fully disclosed until after it is signed. Liu said most of the text of the ECFA was already public and that it would not set a timeframe for opening the Taiwanese market.
The legislature intends to call a provisional session to review the pact next month. Liu yesterday said both an ECFA and agreement on IPR protection would need legislative examination rather than mere ratification because they concern legal revisions of current laws.
Wu Mei-hung (吳美紅), director of the council’s Legal Affairs Department, said that if any proposed amendment pertaining to the accord failed to pass the legislature, that particular article in the IPR agreement would not be implemented.
She said the IPR accord would cover the cultural industry and plant varieties. The purpose is to establish a communication platform for both sides to jointly combat IPR violations.
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