Strong Taiwanese opposition to the cross-strait service trade agreement has slowed down the pace of negotiations on further economic exchanges between Taipei and Beijing, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
In June, Taiwan and China signed the service trade pact in Shanghai, considered the most significant economic accord signed between the two sides since the landmark Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) was inked in 2010.
After the service trade agreement was reached, both sides continued negotiations under the ECFA, with the aim to conclude talks and potentially sign a product trade agreement by the end of this year.
However, the service trade pact has faced strong resistance from opposition political parties, including the Democratic Progressive Party, and was not approved during a special session of the Legislative Yuan, which ended on Friday last week.
Academics and business leaders have also voiced fears that the pact would have a negative impact on local service businesses and hurt the local job market.
Under the service trade pact, Taiwan has agreed to allow China to run businesses in service sub-sectors including printing, car rental, cargo transportation, gondolas, beauty parlors and salons, online gaming and funeral services.
Meanwhile, Beijing agreed to open sub-sectors including e-commerce, printing, hospitals, construction and transportation to Taiwanese investors.
Officials from the MOEA said that due to the stiff resistance against the trade pact, negotiators on the product trade pact have proceeded more slowly than expected, and simply focused on technical issues.
The officials said talks on the product trade agreement are more complicated than negotiations on the service trade pact, as the product trade agreement involves tariff reductions for more than 8,000 items. They added that the government needs more time to communicate with local enterprises.
However, they said the government is maintaining its goal to complete the talks on the product trade agreement by the end of this year.
Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research President Wu Chung-shu (吳中書) said the service trade pact, still pending in the Legislative Yuan, is the equivalent of a free-trade agreement, adding that the trade pact is expected to bring more benefits than harm to Taiwan in the long run, although it could fail to produce significant immediate effects in the short term.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) said he cannot understand why the service trade agreement has not been well received in Taiwan, adding that Beijing has shown good faith in opening its markets.
Zhang said he hopes the service trade agreement will be ratified by Taiwan’s lawmakers and take effect as soon as possible so that Taiwan will be able to seize the opportunity to gain easier access to the huge Chinese market.
Critics of the deal say there was a lack of transparency in its negotiation process and expressed concerns that it would promote a “one China” market because of the free flow of investment, personnel and products across the Taiwan Strait. Operators of affected industries in Taiwan also lambasted the government for not consulting with them in advance.
On July 31, publisher Rex How (郝明義) resigned as a national policy adviser to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over the way the president had dealt with those who oppose the agreement by saying they had deliberately fabricated rumors.
Ma was “derelict in his duty” because he did not take seriously criticism of the agreement, which could deprive people of their property and livelihood, and failed to conduct an assessment of the impact of the agreement on the nation’s economy, society and security before it was signed, How said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,