The Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday declined to confirm whether the progress of a cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China had slowed because of differences between the two sides over the list of items that would qualify for tariff removal or reduction.
GIO Minister Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said discussions between the two sides were still in progress and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government would continue to strive for the best possible “early harvest list” to meet public expectations.
On Saturday evening, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) met with Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Mainland Affairs Council Chairperson Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) to discuss the ECFA issue.
The Ma administration is seeking to obtain “not just a good, but a better” early harvest list and wants to add more items soon after the pact is signed, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported yesterday.
In response, Chiang reiterated that the discussions were still ongoing and the government was determined to achieve a better “early harvest list.”
“The government is working toward that goal so as to maximize the pact’s benefits and minimize its negative public effects,” he said.
In the third formal round of ECFA talks that ended in Beijing on June 13, China agreed to Taiwan’s list of 500 items that will be entitled to preferential tariff treatment under an ECFA, while China listed some 200-odd items that were accepted by Taiwan.
However, Wu said on Thursday that the number of products on Taiwan’s list would be increased to about 510, while China would bump its number up to about 260 or 270.
In a related development, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), arguing that an ECFA with China would jeopardize Taiwan’s sovereignty and make it too economically dependent on China, said it was expecting more than 100,000 people to turn up at its upcoming anti-ECFA march.
The march, to be held in Taipei City on Saturday afternoon, will be joined by various pro-localization organizations who have appealed to the public to join the parade via social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter and blogs.
Director of the DPP’s Taichung chapter, Chen Ta-chun (陳大鈞), said the party had received an overwhelming response from locals who have phoned in and signed up for transport for Saturday’s march.
Director of the DPP’s Changhua chapter, Charles Chiang (江昭儀), also reported that his chapter has had an excellent response to Saturday’s event over the past few days.
However, Chiang said budget constraints meant that only the county’s party chapter was able to rent two long-haul buses for the event, so some people from his county might not able to make it to the march despite their eagerness to attend.
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