President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday attributed the nation’s lagging behind South Korea and Singapore in signing free-trade agreements (FTAs) to obstruction from China, as he was urged to push for trade liberalization.
During a visit with New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) at Singtex Industrial Co in the municipality’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), Singtex president Chin Kuo-chin (陳國欽) called on the Ma administration to speed up negotiations over a trade deal with China under the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and FTAs with other nations.
“No one wants to sign an agreement with Taiwan,” Ma said in response, adding, however, that many nations are interested in trade with the nation
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
“It is all because of the politics at play,” Ma said. “Therefore, we need to complete the signing of [subsequent agreements under the] ECFA to create room for negotiations with other nations over free-trade deals.”
Taiwan has lagged far behind South Korea and Singapore in this regard, Ma said.
As an export-oriented economy with a small domestic market, Taiwan needs to open itself up, he added.
“We cannot just close the door and feel complacent,” Ma said.
The number of nations that have established an FTA-like trade mechanism with Taiwan was brought to seven last year after trade pacts with New Zealand and Singapore were signed.
Previously, Taiwan held similar agreements with five diplomatic allies in Central America — Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras.
Although Taiwan — a WTO member — is entitled to sign trade agreements with other WTO members, the deals signed with New Zealand and Singapore came only after the ECFA was signed in 2010.
One of the reasons that Beijing did not interfere with the deals is believed to be that Singapore and New Zealand already have trade pacts with China, reports and analysts have said.
Under the ECFA, Taiwan and China in 2011 began reducing or eliminating tariffs on imports itemized in what is known as the “early harvest list,” while they agreed to continue negotiations on investments and trade in goods and services.
The Cross-Strait Bilateral Protection and Promotion Agreement took effect early last year. The cross-strait service trade agreement has been stalled in the legislature pending ratification since it was signed in July last year.
Recently resumed negotiations over an agreement on trade in goods had been hampered by a delay in ratifying the service trade agreement caused by the student-led Sunflower movement in March and April. The movement focused public anger on the government’s handling of what protesters called “backroom” cross-strait negotiations.
Taipei and Beijing have yet to begin talks over a proposed mechanism to settle cross-strait disputes, another ECFA follow-up agreement.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
RSS