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Ministry mum on Singaporean trade

Amid speculation that talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) between Taiwan and Singapore might restart soon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday refused to comment on whether there was any progress in resuming negotiations.

Asked to comment on reports that Singapore and Taiwan will reopen discussions on an FTA soon, Weber Shih (施文斌), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Economic and Trade Affairs, told a regular press briefing that strengthening economic cooperation with member countries of the ASEAN has always been one of the main tasks of the government.

“The Free Trade Agreement [FTA] is of course one of our major tasks. However, we cannot give details on any particular case,” Shih said.

Reports said prospects seemed to have brightened that the city-state might be more willing to negotiate with Taiwan on a free trade deal after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which favors closer trade ties with China and easing cross-strait tensions, won a decisive victory in the March 22 presidential election.

In his meeting with international media after his election victory, president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said he would push to revive talks for an FTA with Singapore, based on the “WTO formula,” meaning using Taiwan’s name in the WTO — “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.”

This name was used by Taiwan to join the WTO in 2002.

Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement recently that “FTAs with customs territories such as Taiwan are permissible under WTO rules,” according to a report by the Straits Times.

The city-state, however, set preconditions to an FTA deal, such as that issues involving trade should not be politicized.

Shih said he believed that building up a full-scale economic trade partnership with countries in the Southeast Asian region would be the priority of the incoming government.

According to an unofficial account, the free trade discussions between Taiwan and Singapore, which started in 2000, stagnated after President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) government insisted on signing the FTA using the name “Taiwan” or its official title the “Republic of China.”
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