Taipei and Beijing will hold their fourth round of official talks in Taichung City today amid widespread doubts in Taiwan about the four accords the two sides of the Taiwan Strait plan to sign and lackluster results from the nine agreements and one consensus they have signed so far.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has aggressively pursued improved cross-strait relations since he took office in May last year. His program has raised concerns, especially over whether his cross-strait policy leans too much toward China and if his administration can protect Taiwan’s interests.
The latest poll released by the pro-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) TV station, TVBS, on Thursday found that 52 percent of respondents said the administration’s cross-strait policy tilted too much toward China — much higher than May last year when the same question was answered positively by 43 percent of respondents. In November last year — during the second cross-strait official talks in Taipei — the positive response rate was 42 percent.
PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Asked about the influence of the nine agreements and one consensus, 31 percent of respondents to the latest poll said they did not think the were conducive to Taiwan’s development, while 30 percent said they were, 13 percent said they did not have any impact at all and 26 percent did not give any opinion.
Commenting on this week’s meeting, 52 percent of respondents said they were not confident the government could protect Taiwan’s interests, while only 35 percent said they were.
This week’s meeting between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) will address four issues. The plan is to sign four agreements covering fishing industry cooperation, quality checks of agricultural products, cross-strait cooperation in standard inspection and certification and the prevention of double taxation.
The two sides will also “exchange opinions” on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) the government hopes to sign with Beijing next year. If opinions can “be exchanged” this week, the ECFA would be placed on the agenda of the next round of cross-strait talks scheduled for the first half of next year.
DOUBTS
Despite the government’s assurances, there are widespread doubts and concerns, however, about the accords.
One question that has dogged Chiang is the close business relationship he and his family have with China. Although Chiang had resigned from a joint venture and a foundation to avoid any conflict of interest, he still serves as honorary chairman of the Sinocon Industrial Standards Foundation.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has questioned whether Chiang would benefit from a deal on cross-strait cooperation in standard inspections.
The SEF has dismissed such a possibility, saying the agreement aims to protect consumers, not benefit Chiang’s company. They also said the firm’s business does not overlap with items covered by the agreement and that Chiang was not personally involved in the negotiations.
Lawmakers on the Internal Administration Committee invited Chiang to their meeting to report on the upcoming meeting with Chen and offer a clear account of his role. Chiang, however, turned down the invitation, saying he did not participate directly in the cross-strait negotiations and that he simply followed precedent in not reporting to the legislature.
Other concerns about the proposed agreement on cross-strait cooperation on standard inspection is that it would lower the standards of Taiwanese products, allow the import of huge amounts of inferior Chinese goods and pave the way for a “one China” market.
STANDARD INSPECTIONS
Government officials, however, defend the policy. Since bilateral trade with China reached US$130 billion last year, with China now Taiwan’s biggest export market, officials said it was the common wish of the industry that the two countries establish a standardization system. Such a system would help Taiwanese producers secure a position in the China market, they say.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Sheng-chung (林聖忠) said such a system would save companies time and money because they would no longer need to pay to get permission to manufacture certain products meeting the standard of the country they wish to export to. Instead, countries interested in exporting products whose standards are set by China or Taiwan would need to pay for patent authorization.
Lin said the government has listed four industries as priority items: light-emitting diode (LED), photonics, flat-screen monitor and vehicle telematics. The cooperation in standard inspection will focus on five areas: metrology, test cooperation, verification and certification cooperation and consumer product safety.
On consumer product safety, statistics show that 74.7 percent of the imported consumer goods that failed to pass the safety checks at border entries were from China, while 68.6 percent of imported consumer goods sampled from retail markets that were tested and failed were from China.
Lin said the agreement would also establish a cooperation mechanism to allow the two sides to exchange information and inform each other of unsafe consumer products and such information would be published on-line for public access.
Both sides are also seeking to sign an agreement on quality checks and quarantine inspections of agricultural produce.
AGRICULTURAL CHECKS
While Ma has promised not to allow more agricultural imports from China, some question how he could keep this promise since Taiwan must open its market to Chinese agricultural products or face WTO sanctions since both countries are WTO members.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said both sides would negotiate the agreement under the “spirit” of the WTO, rather than the “letter” of WTO regulations. The administration was determined to keep its promise to protect Taiwan, Liu said.
Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Hu Sing-hwa (胡興華) said it was important to sign the agreement because both sides must have uniform inspection standards of agricultural products.
Among the longstanding problems with agricultural exports to China is that China has many agricultural products that do not fall under any national standards for pesticide residue. This means the test of pesticide residue for such products must be zero. This has created trouble for Taiwanese exporters because their products may meet Taiwan’s standards but not China’s.
Government statistics show that fruits make up the biggest percentage of Taiwanese agricultural exports to China, between 30 percent to 35 percent of the country’s total fruit exports. Taiwan imports 1,412 kinds of Chinese agricultural products, or 63 percent of the country’s total agricultural products.
Hu said the agreement on quality checks of agricultural products would not affect the 830 agricultural products banned from import from China and that the agreement would not relax the quarantine or inspection measures.
Describing the agreement as a “principle accord,” Hu said the arrangement would allow both sides to have direct contact and notification, make inquires and negotiate disputes. The two sides could also keep abreast of the information on plant and animal diseases, expedite the inspection process and address the problem in a speedy manner, he said.
Chinese fishermen have also been a problem for Taiwanese authorities. Government statistics show there were 25 cases of Chinese fishermen hijacking Taiwanese fishing boats, nine violent mutinies resulting in deaths and 402 Chinese fishermen who absconded while in Taiwan (252 were apprehended).
FISHERIES INDUSTRY
While Ma has also pledged not to allow more Chinese workers into the local market, some people are worried that the agreement will lead to more Chinese workers entering the country.
It has been 15 years since the government first allowed the hiring of Chinese fishermen, Hua said, and this week’s agreement will not change the policy that Chinese fishermen are hired outside the country to work and are allowed to come on shore only to take temporary shelter in case of storms.
The government has allowed Chinese fishermen to work on deep-sea fishing boats since 1991 and on offshore fishing boats since 1993. Chinese fishermen were allowed to rest or take temporary shelter on shore in special areas near harbors since 1993. Except for medical emergencies, they are banned from leaving the areas.
Under a proposed agreement, Chinese fishermen would be brought in by authorized Chinese and Taiwanese brokers and Chinese firms would be held responsible for any losses caused by intentional or major misconduct by Chinese fishermen, Hua said.
This would not only ensure the quality of Chinese fishermen but also protect Taiwanese owners of fishing boats, he said, although it might drive up their costs a little bit, including Chinese fishermen’s salaries.
TAXATION
Deputy Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said most Taiwanese businesspeople working in China want the two sides to ink an agreement on dual taxation.
Some people, however, have voiced concerns that the agreement would give the Chinese government easy access to the tax information of the some 800,000 China-based Taiwanese.
The government has signed bilateral tax exemption agreements with 16 countries since 1981, Chang said. For the 16 countries that have signed bilateral tax-exemption agreements, the government has only provided tax information eight times, Chang said, adding that such information would only be provided in clear cases of tax evasion.
Data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission shows that between 1991 and last October, China-bound investment reached US$80.5 billion, far more than the officially registered figure of US$62.1 billion.
It was necessary to sign a tax accord with Beijing to accurately manage tax information, Chang said.
China has signed taxation arrangements with 89 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. If Chinese investors have to pay more taxes here, it was bound to drive them away, he said.
Taiwanese businesspeople would also risk paying taxes both in Taiwan and China and their costs would go up due to the lack of direct contacts or negotiation channels should there be any disputes, he said.
Unlike the other three accords, the agreement on dual taxation would require legal revisions of Article 25-2 of the Act Governing Relations between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例). Should the revisions fail to be passed by the legislature, Taipei and Beijing will have no legal basis to negotiate on dual taxation, Chang said.
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