Vice Minister of Agriculture Hu Sing-hwa (胡興華) yesterday denied media reports that almost 300,000 Taiwanese farmers would lose their jobs if Taiwan signed an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
“The ECFA does not concern agricultural issues,” Hu told a press conference at the Government Information Office.
“We will not include agriculture in the negotiations after the ECFA is signed unless the negotiations will benefit local farmers,” he said.
Hu called the conference in response to a report published by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) on Sunday that cited National Chung Hsing University honorary professor Wu Ming-ming (吳明敏) as saying that more than 289,000 farmers could become jobless if the government relaxed restrictions on Chinese agricultural products.
“The government should enshrine the ban on the 830 Chinese agricultural products in an ECFA. Otherwise, the government should refuse to sign the pact,” the story quoted National Taiwan University professor of agricultural economics Woo Rhung-jieh (吳榮杰) as saying.
Taiwan and China began the first round of talks on the proposed ECFA last week. A report commissioned by China’s Ministry of Commerce urged Taiwan to lift the ban on Chinese agricultural products.
Members of the Chinese negotiating team were quoted last Tuesday as saying that Taiwanese import controls on agricultural and industrial goods should be resolved to “normalize” the cross-strait economic relationship.
Hu described Wu’s remark as “hypothetical” and “groundless,” adding that the government would determine whether to relax the ban in line with public opinion.
Hu said no Taiwanese farmers would lose their jobs as a result of an ECFA because the Council of Agriculture (COA) would insist on retaining the ban.
The council emphasized that Taiwan’s negotiating team had already made that position “very clear” to its Chinese counterparts. The position is “non-negotiable,” officials said, adding that the Chinese demands were made unilaterally and went against Taiwan’s position.
To date, import controls for 1,415 classifications of agricultural products have already been removed, all before 2008: 479 controls were lifted after negotiations between 1988 and 2000, with an additional 936 when Taiwan joined the WTO, the COA said.
Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Chairman Kao Charng (高長) said in a radio interview on Sunday that he hoped China wouldn’t continue to block Taiwanese efforts to sign free-trade agreements (FTA) with other countries after an ECFA is signed.
“We hope China can understand that it is very important for Taiwan to develop trade and economic ties with other countries,” Kao said.
Whether China will drop its previous attitude of blocking Taiwan from signing FTAs with other countries after an ECFA is signed has been a topic of much debate.
Kao said it was difficult to believe speculation that China would intervene in efforts by Taiwan to sign FTAs with other countries, adding that signing FTAs with major trade partners under the WTO framework was not a political issue.
If China imposed economic sanctions — such as stopping imports of raw materials or semi-finished products from Taiwan for political or non-economic purposes — it would also have a negative impact on China’s economy, Kao said.
Taiwan-China trade relations can be developed parallel to Taiwan-US trade relations, he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS