The dropping of a tax agreement with China on Tuesday is not necessarily a bad thing for Taiwan and proves that the deal will have to gain more support before being signed, experts said.
Representatives from Taiwan and China signed three agreements on Tuesday: on agricultural inspection and quarantine cooperation, industrial standards testing and certification cooperation, as well as fishery labor cooperation.
A fourth item on the agenda — an agreement on avoiding double taxation and strengthening tax cooperation — was not signed, as the two sides failed to reach a consensus, citing “technical issues.”
The development marked the first time since cross-strait talks resumed last year after a nine-year hiatus that an agreement that had been put on the agenda was not signed.
“China never presumes it has to reach concrete results before entering negotiations,” National Taiwan University economics professor Kenneth Lin (林向愷) said.
“Not being able to sign the agreement … is not necessarily a bad thing for us. We don’t have to set a deadline and tie our hands,” he said.
Most Taiwanese businesspeople investing in China do so through companies in a third country to avoid being taxed, Lin said, adding that Taiwanese business operators are mostly concerned that “China has been using tax inspections as a tool to pester Taiwanese businesses in China.”
Tax agreements are usually signed between allies, friendly countries or countries at similar levels of economic development, but that is not the case between Taiwan and China, Lin said.
“The key here is not tax issues but political issues, such as the wording of the document,” he said.
“At the end of the day, a government has to protect its taxpayers,” Lin said.
Others looked at the negotiations in a different light.
Yin Nai-ping (殷乃平), a professor of finance at National Chengchi University, said the “technical issues” that nixed talks on taxation were related to the avoidance of double taxation.
“Taiwan may have requested that Taiwanese companies that are investing indirectly in China through a third country be included on the double taxation list in the negotiations, but China refused to accept this,” Yin said.
Taiwan’s opposition parties have questioned whether taxpayer information could end up in the hands of the Chinese authorities once an agreement on tax cooperation takes effect, which has raised concerns among local businesspeople, Yin said.
“The widespread uneasiness over the issue made Taiwanese officials particularly cautious in the talks,” he said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS