The European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT) yesterday acknowledged Taiwan's efforts to open its market but urged the government to further liberalize in full compliance with its WTO commitments.
The chamber issued a review of Taiwan's compliance with WTO commitments during a luncheon with the local press.
The European business group reiterated the necessity for the pace of market opening to be expedited in several areas, including the lifting of China import bans and accession to the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), saying that Taiwan was violating its WTO commitments.
"These issues could ultimately become complaints going to the WTO for resolution," ECCT executive director John Pickles said yesterday.
The chamber, however, hopes to resolve the issues with the government before resorting to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, said Pickles, who is president of Asian Pacific Research Ltd in Taipei.
Looking ahead, the acceleration of a normalization of cross-strait business remains at the top of the chamber's priority list for this year, including an immediate lifting of import bans on over 200 European goods manufactured in China and the relaxation of restrictions on the inflow of Chinese staff hired by multinational companies.
The import bans have caused foreign companies hundreds of millions of US dollar losses annually because of extra shipping costs to import goods or components from other countries, the chamber's chief executive officer Guy Wittich said.
In another words, Taiwanese consumers must pay more to consume European products if these goods must be directly imported from Europe or produced in small production lines in other countries specifically for Taiwan -- instead of taking advantage of mass production in China, ECCT chairman Dirk Sanger said.
While Taiwan is ambitious to become a regional hub in the logistics, operation and finance sectors, "How can you block yourself out of the region if you want to achieve these objectives?" Sanger asked, adding that "Taiwan ... should be embracing China as it is, but not competing with them."
Both Wittich and Sanger said that overseas firms expect that limitations on the free flow of products and people could jeopardize some investments in Taiwan.
China remained a topic of heated discussion at yesterday's luncheon. Sanger said Taiwan is well-positioned geographically -- in a position linking the East and the West -- but if foreign investors have to make a choice they would choose China in the face of Taiwan's restrictions that toughen investment environment.
Looking at other areas, the chamber cited gaining full market access to government procurement projects as its second-biggest concern, and there have been no concrete developments indicating the problem will be resolved, according to the chamber.
Taiwan is still blocked from signing the GPA because of Chinese objections to the name Taiwan uses to designate itself, Pickles said.
But in addition to the wording issue, "The objection from local industries [on market opening] is another key factor," said Tiffany Huang (黃台芬), senior partner of law firm Baker & McKenzie, who is also co-chair of ECCT's Procurement and Project Committee.
The discriminatory practices mean infrastructure construction projects will be of lower quality and cost more if they are not open to international bidding, Sanger said.
The chamber cited other priorities in monitoring Taiwan's compliance with its WTO commitments, including the elimination of over-regulation in the automotive sector, the government's promise to upgrade service industries such as retail and banking, as well as intellectual property protection.
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