A South Korean research institute’s concern over the possible impact of a trade deal between Taiwan and China on South Korean exporters is further proof that the pact will boost Taiwan’s competitiveness, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
It also shows that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is doing nothing but “twisting the facts and smearing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA)” for political purposes, Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.
On June 29, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government, via a semi-official government body, concluded the signing of the ECFA with China in the Chinese city of Chongqing.
The DPP has described the signing of the ECFA as a move to sell out Taiwan’s sovereignty, but Lo disagreed, while commenting on a report by the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP).
In its report, the KIEP predicted that the ECFA would hurt exports of South Korean petrochemical products to China.
Lo said the report reflects the “optimism” of foreign countries in talking about the boost the agreement will give to Taiwan’s economic development.
Citing a report by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the Central News Agency reported from Seoul on Thursday that the KIEP’s study on the ECFA, released that day, anticipated that the South Korean petrochemical sector would be the most affected sector in South Korea.
The KIEP said 494 of Taiwan’s 539 products on the ECFA’s “early harvest list” are also exported to China by South Korea, and they account for 17.9 percent of South Korea’s total exports to the Chinese market, the report said.
Aside from petrochemical products, South Korean steel and transport equipment could also be affected by the ECFA, the report added, and it urged Seoul to actively study how to forge a free-trade agreement with China.
The early harvest list covers products entitled to tariff reductions or exemptions under the cross-strait agreement.
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