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.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS