The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it is considering negotiating with its Chinese counterpart on a broader range of products to be covered in the cross-strait agreement on trade in response to China and South Korea’s signing a bilateral trade agreement.
After a three-hour meeting in Seoul on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and South Korean President Park Geun-hye issued a joint statement that Seoul and Beijing would work to complete a long-negotiated free-trade agreement by the end of the year.
In response, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) told a media briefing that he felt “highly agitated” about China and South Korea signing a free-trade agreement because the pact is likely to cause the nation’s businesses to lose competitiveness with their South Korean peers.
“We need to have a much better discussions about helping Taiwanese companies become more competitive with their South Korean counterparts, but the key is to let the already inked cross-strait service trade pact get ratification from the legislature first,” Duh said.
Duh said the ministry’s trade negotiation office is revising its strategies and considering negotiating a longer list of products to be covered in the cross-strait agreement on trade in goods.
The ministry said Taiwan’s panel, petrochemical and machinery industries would suffer the brunt of the new free-trade deal. Taiwan is competing with South Korea in those sectors.
Taiwanese academics have also expressed concern about the agreement between China and South Korea.
Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research’s WTO and RTA center deputy executive director, Roy Lee (李淳) told CNA that after the signing of the agreement, Taiwan will suffer an impact in a short-time frame.
“Between 50 percent and 80 percent of Taiwan’s export items overlap with those of South Korea,” Lee said.
As China is also developing its own panel industry, it probably will not allow zero tariffs for South Korea, but even if China reduces tariffs in seven to 10 years, it will still curb Taiwan’s panel sector.
He said that Taiwan has enjoyed a trade surplus of between US$80 billion and US$90 billion with China over the past few years, while its trade surplus with the rest of the world has totaled US$30 billion.
“If Taiwan’s trade surplus with China is reduced, its trade surplus with the rest of the world will also be reduced,” he said. This, coupled with high tariffs, could induce an even faster exodus of domestic industries, according to Lee.
Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) Microeconomic Forecasting Center director Gordon Sun (孫明德), said that China is also the largest export destination for South Korea, accounting for 30 percent of its total exports.
“If China also completes the signing of a free-trade agreement with Japan, then Taiwan will be marginalized,” he said.
NEW MARKET: The partnership opens up India to the Dutch company, which already has a strong hold in the semiconductor market of South Korea, Taiwan and China ASML Holding NV entered into a partnership agreement with Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd aimed at ramping up India’s goal to develop domestic chip-manufacturing capabilities. The Dutch company’s technology would help power Tata Electronics’ planned 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor foundry in Gujarat, according to a joint statement from the two companies on Saturday. The signing of a memorandum of understanding coincides with a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Netherlands, which is looking to deepen bilateral relations with New Delhi. ASML, whose top customers include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co, makes lithography machines that can print
ROUGH RECORDS: Bonds in Japan, as well is in New Zealand, Australia and the US, are seeing the effects of a nervy market as stock exchanges across Asia edge down A deepening slump in Japanese government bonds added fuel to the selloff in global debt markets as rising oil prices stoked inflation fears and pushed yields to multi-decade highs. Japan’s 30-year yield yesterday surged as much as 20 basis points to the highest level since the tenor’s debut in 1999, before paring some of the move. Shorter-maturity Japanese debt was also under pressure, underscored by weak demand at a sale of five-year notes that offered a record-high coupon of 2 percent. Concerns over inflation and government spending rippling through markets including the US, Australia and New Zealand are being amplified in Japan,
The US has cleared about 10 Chinese firms to buy Nvidia Corp’s second-most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) chip, the H200, but not a single delivery has been made so far, three people familiar with the matter said, leaving a major technology deal in limbo as chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) seeks a breakthrough in China this week. Huang, who was not initially listed in a White House delegation to Beijing, joined the trip after an invitation from US President Donald Trump, a source said. Trump picked him up in Alaska en route to a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping
Wall Street is licking its chops over an unprecedented slate of massive initial public offerings (IPOs) set to arrive in the coming months, beginning with Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) next month. That is expected to be followed by artificial intelligence (AI) rivals OpenAI and Anthropic PBC. The trio of mega listings, each eyeing valuations around US$1 trillion or more, constitutes a heady period of elevated risk and reward. SpaceX is targeting an IPO that would raise up to US$80 billion — about double the funds generated from all IPOs last year. OpenAI and Anthropic are eyeing IPOs raising US$60 billion. “We’re
RSS