Taiwan and China lowered import tariffs on more than 800 products yesterday under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
China cut duties on 557 items imported from Taiwan including fish and bicycles, an increase from 539 when the ECFA was signed in June, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its Web site on Wednesday. Taiwan will lower tariffs on 267 items such as tea and cement from China as part of the “early harvest” list.
The “early harvest” list includes items that will enjoy preferential tariffs first under the EFCA, a treaty that also includes the opening of industries.
Cross-strait tensions have eased since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May 2008 and dropped the pro-independence stance of his predecessor, making economic relations with China the government’s priority. Taiwan has signed 15 deals with China since 2008, most recently an agreement on medical and healthcare cooperation last month.
“Taiwan’s economic growth is very likely to overshoot in 2011 because of the agreement with China,” Aidan Wang (王誠宏), an economist at Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧), said by telephone on Friday. “More significantly, Chinese tourists and capital will contribute to Taiwan’s domestic demand and help the nation to be less export dependent.”
The nation’s benchmark TAIEX has climbed 21 percent since the ECFA was signed and it closed at a two-and-a-half-year high on Friday.
China also opened markets in six service industries yesterday, including banking, securities, insurance, hospital services, design services and civil aircraft repairs, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.
The seventh cross-strait talks this year will continue to discuss an investment protection accord, Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), vice chairman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, told reporters in Taipei last month.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
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‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
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