Taiwan yesterday wrapped up the latest talks with China over a trade in goods agreement, but no significant breakthrough on further tariff reductions was made during the three-day negotiations.
Taiwan and China restarted the trade in goods talks, which took place at the Evergreen Resort Hotel in Yilan County’s Jiaosi Township (礁溪), after the negotiations had been put on hold for the past year.
Taiwan has addressed local manufacturers’ concerns about the potential impact from a free-trade agreement between China and South Korea, as the pact could cause about NT$30 billion (US$1 billion) in damage, Bureau of Foreign Trade Director-General Jenni Yang (楊珍妮) told reporters.
China and South Korea are likely to sign a bilateral trade pact by the end of this year and Yang said her Chinese counterpart, Chen Xing (陳星), head of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, had got the message.
As South Korea is a major rival to Taiwan primarily in the LCD panel, machinery tool and auto part sectors, Taiwanese manufacturers fear that they would lose out to their South Korean competitors if Taiwan and China do not sign a trade in goods agreement, including import tariff reductions, before the China-South Korea free-trade agreement goes into effect, she said.
Dashing that hope, the Taiwanese and Chinese representatives did not discuss expanding the goods that would be subject to tariff cuts or any details about the scope of further tariff reductions.
Yang said they did discuss how to open up the nation’s agricultural sector while safeguarding the interests of Taiwanese farmers and fostering the sustainable development of the local agriculture industry.
“Food safety issues and relaxations on the textile and shoe-making industries were also on the agenda,” Yang said.
Over the past three days, representatives from both sides mainly focused on reviewing and confirming preliminary agreements, mostly the structure of the trade in goods agreement, negotiateded during talks over the past three-and-a-half years since the first meeting took place in February 2011, according to a statement issued by the Bureau of Foreign Trade.
Taiwan and China have agreed to tariff reductions in five categories when opening their markets to each other in the future, Yang said.
No specific date has been set for the next round of talks, Yang said.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)