The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could give Taiwanese businesses an opening to “move further up the value chain and develop more of [their] own branded goods and services,” a new analysis by the Brookings Institution says.
However, in the view of Brookings Taiwan studies director Richard Bush and economics expert Joshua Meltzer, the reasons for Taiwan to join the TPP go beyond the potential market openings with major trading partners and are “more strategic in nature.”
They say that the TPP’s liberalization agenda will require Taiwan to undertake a range of economic reforms that will have a “significant and positive impact” on Taiwan’s productivity, competitiveness and economic growth.
“Joining TPP can become a driver of domestic economic reform in Taiwan and in this respect could have a similar impact as the World Trade Organization,” Bush and Meltzer say in the analysis.
The TPP was built on a free-trade agreement between New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei.
In 2008, the US joined what became the TPP negotiations. Australia, Peru and Vietnam joined soon after, followed by Malaysia. Canada and Mexico joined the TPP last year and Japan joined the TPP negotiations a few months ago.
The negotiations are likely to be finalized early next year.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has committed Taiwan to joining the TPP by 2020.
The analysis notes that the parties to the TPP represent 650 million people and comprise a third of world trade.
One aim is to phase out tariffs on more than 11,000 products, with the most controversial being textiles, apparel, footwear and agriculture.
Taiwan’s membership in the TPP would allow other members to take advantage of the Taiwan-China Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and use Taiwan as a platform for trading and investing with China, the analysis says.
Meeting the goals of an agreement will not be an easy policy task for Taiwan, the analysis says.
“The US has a perception that Taiwan does not adopt science-based regulations for food safety,” it says.
“Some American officials and business representatives feel that regulators instead respond to public sentiment whipped up by a sensationalist media by adopting regulations that do little for food safety and a lot to protect local agricultural producers,” it says.
Bush and Meltzer cite Taiwan’s ban on imports of pork treated with ractopamine as an example.
The Ma administration should start developing policies aimed at liberalizing its agricultural sector while also providing policies to retrain and support those harmed economically, they say.
Joining the TPP would also require Taiwan to liberalize its services sector, but this would “drive innovation and reduce costs.” It would also help Taiwan become an international financial center and give Taiwanese businesses access to world-class legal, consulting, financial and engineering services, the analysis says.
South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines have also expressed interest in joining the partnership.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
SHIFTING FIRE: While the tempo of purely military exercises around Taiwan has gone down somewhat, Beijing is working to isolate Lai diplomatically from support abroad Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is shifting tactics in his campaign to pressure Taiwan, ramping up diplomatic isolation of the nation while dialing down provocative displays of military aggression. Taiwan recorded a daily average of five Chinese military aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s buffer line with China through May this year — half the number logged in the same period last year. In March, Beijing did not send a single fighter jet near Taiwan for seven days, the longest absence on record outside of typhoon season. In comparison, China sent 153 planes near Taiwan during one day at its peak in
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
RSS