Delegates in the 12th round of negotiations over a cross-strait trade in goods agreement on Monday failed to narrow their differences over several major issues, but Taiwan’s team still hopes to “make major progress” by the end of this year.
“Both negotiating teams have demonstrated their determination and sincerity,” reaching a number of consensuses, but differences remain over some issues and the two sides have decided to hold another round of talks next month in Taipei, head of the Taiwanese negotiating team Board of Foreign Trade Director-General Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮) said.
The agreement, if reached, would reduce or eliminate tariffs on many goods traded between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, including automobile parts, machinery products, petrochemical products and display panels.
Following three days of talks, one main consensus reached was the clearance of goods within 48 hours of their declaration at customs, Yang said.
However, she added that if the authorities see a need to inspect or screen items, or if customs deem it necessary to make checks more stringent for a certain batch of goods, the 48-hour clearance rule would not apply.
The exception was adopted to assuage concerns that food safety could be compromised by expedited customs clearance, she added.
Consensuses have also been reached on special rules of origin and on technical barriers to trade, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
At the same time, a general agreement was reached on remedy measures to solve trade disputes, with minor differences in investigation procedures concerning anti-dumping disputes yet to be bridged, the ministry added.
The 27-member Chinese team was led by Sun Tong (孫彤), head of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs.
The cross-strait trade in goods agreement is a follow-up to the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) that Taiwan and China signed on June 30, 2010, in a bid to boost bilateral trade.
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