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.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
RSS