Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman John Deng (鄧振中) said yesterday that he is disappointed by remarks that were made on Monday by senior Chinese official Tang Shu-bei (唐樹備). Tang said that China will not discuss trade and economic issues with Taiwan under the WTO framework.
Tang is a former vice chairman of Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straight (ARATS) and the current head of the ARATS-affiliated Cross-Strait Relations Research Center. He said Monday, at a seminar on cross-strait trade and economic relations in the wake of Taiwan's and China's WTO entry, that China still disagrees with Taiwan's proposal that cross-strait trade and economic issues be addressed under the WTO framework.
"They should be treated as the internal affairs of a single country," he said.
In his response yesterday, Deng said that the MAC still hoped that China could express goodwill and understanding by agreeing to negotiate trade issues under the WTO framework. "But since China insists that these issues are internal affairs, we cannot force them to sit down to negotiate," said Deng.
Deng added that regardless of how Chinese officials interpret the WTO framework, Taiwan is set on a clear path to liberalize the importation of products from China step by step.
"We should give the Chinese government a period of time to reconsider how to respond to the new cross-strait situation under the WTO framework, since the two sides have been members of the WTO for only a short time," he said.
Deng also said that, since Tang's remarks have not changed China's position, the people of Taiwan should not consider them as any particular cause for nervousness of worry.
"We will work at our own pace to liberalize imports from China, passing domestic regulations to govern the trade," the MAC vice chairman added.
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