Economists yesterday urged Taiwan and China to seek a new cooperation model to create greater value for their industries, focusing on branding and green industries in the wake of signing a cross-Strait trade agreement.
Wu Jinglian (吳敬璉), an economist with China’s Development Research Center of the State Council, said at a forum in Taipei that the signing and implementation of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in June marked a new era for cooperation between the industrial sectors on both sides of the Strait.
“From now on, industries on the two sides should explore effective cooperation models to reach a win-win situation,” he said in a keynote speech.
The ECFA, which took effect on Sept. 12, paves the way for cross-strait tariff cuts on hundreds of items from the beginning of next year.
Wu urged Taiwan and China to forge partnerships in green energy, electric vehicles, medical care, financial services and other fields to which both governments have vowed to commit themselves.
His remarks came at a time when both Taiwan and China are working to shift the focus from manufacturing to branding and innovation.
Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝), a professor of economics at National Taiwan University who also delivered a keynote speech, said that the current industrial cooperation model between Taiwan and China centers on production, which makes them “work for the world, not profit from the world.”
He attributed this to Taiwan’s and China’s disadvantages in terms of branding and intellectual property (IP).
“If Taiwan and China want to create greater value for their industries, their future cooperation should focus on branding and IP issues,” Chen said.
He also said Taiwan and China could gain a leading position in the world together in emerging industries.
“The collaboration in new industries, including green energy, cloud computing and biotechnology, will likely put Taiwan and China among the leaders in these fields,” said Chen, a former chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development.
Bilateral cooperation could include marketing brands together, giving each other brand authorization or investing in brands together, he said.
Although Taiwan has a number of global brands such as Acer Inc (宏碁), HTC Corp (宏達電) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), there is still a long way to go before Taiwan’s top brands can be ranked among the top global brands, he added.
Currently, the 100th place on a Best Global Brands chart is filled by Campbell, valued at US$3 billion — more than double the value of Taiwan’s top contender, Acer, with a brand value of US$1.4 billion, according to brand consultancy Interbrand.
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