Last-minute cross-strait negotiations on the avoidance of double taxation broke down yesterday because of “technical” problems, but both sides agreed to restart negotiations as soon as possible and sign the agreement when “the time is ripe.”
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Deputy Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中) said the two sides agreed on the drafts of three agreements on fishing crews, inspection of agricultural products and standardization, but failed to reach a consensus on dual taxation.
The two sides had agreed to address four issues and sign four agreements on fishing industry cooperation, quality checks of agricultural products, cross-strait cooperation in standard inspection and certification and avoidance of double taxation.
PHOTO: CNA
Zheng made the remarks after the last round of a preparatory meeting between himself and Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Secretary-General Kao Koong-lian (高孔廉) yesterday afternoon. The 90-minute meeting was held before today’s meeting between SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and his Chinese counterpart, ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
While Chiang and Kao will only sign three agreements today, Chiang said during a dinner the SEF hosted last night that he would sign four agreements, apparently unaware of the change of plan.
Chiang and Kao today will also review the implementation of the nine agreements and one consensus signed so far and touch on the issues of the next round of cross-strait meetings scheduled for the first half of next year. Both sides yesterday agreed to address the protection of intellectual property rights and an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government seeks to sign the proposed pact with Beijing next year and hoped to place it on the agenda of the next round of cross-strait official talks.
Zheng said the ECFA was an issue of common interest and experts on both sides have exchanged opinions on various occasions. He said the SEF and ARATS would “exchange opinions” on the issue and that he believed such opinions would be positive.
Citing the example of the agreement on double taxation, Kao said he could not guarantee whether they would sign the proposed pact during the next round of cross-strait talks. However, he said that time was pressing for Taiwan.
On double taxation, neither Kao nor Zheng offered any details about the “technical” problems, but both agreed they needed more time to “exchange opinions” on the issue.
Zheng said it was quite “normal” for negotiations to break down on complicated issues, adding that placing an issue on the agenda did not guarantee the signing of an agreement. Both sides were bound to encounter “unexpected problems” during the negotiation process if they failed to carefully consider all aspects.
Kao said both sides began the negotiations on double taxation in October, but the issue was complicated. The government has signed bilateral tax exemption agreements with 16 countries since 1981, but the negotiations took about one to four years in each case.
Before the preparatory meeting, Zheng said the achievements made over the past year have proven that the two sides “have the ability to address their own problems” and believe that the “peaceful development” is the “topical subject” of both sides.
Likening the nine agreements signed in the past year to the “basic infrastructures” of cross-strait exchanges, Kao said they served as the “tangible superhighways” and the institutionalized negotiation mechanism was the “invisible” one.
He said he had three wishes for future cross-strait negotiations. First, he hoped both sides would shelve differences, negotiate practically and refrain from making political interpretations. Second, he hoped China would fully respect Taiwanese thinking and finally, he hoped China would take into account the size difference between the two sides.
In Taipei, Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) yesterday did not specify technical issues either, only saying that they were related to tax rates.
“Since both sides are still in the process of negotiations, I cannot reveal too much information,” he said, adding that if signing the agreements would not ensure public interest, the government would not do it.
Lee said that both sides have discussed 70 percent to 80 percent of the content of the proposed agreement, but a consensus could not be reached on certain controversial parts, adding that negotiations would still continue.
“This means that the government is responsible for the public. We don’t sign it [the taxation agreement] for the sake of signing,” Lee said. “If the signing wouldn’t be good for us, why would we have to do it?”
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