Taiwan and China yesterday signed two agreements on investment protection and customs cooperation, with officials stressing that the pacts would provide a system for protecting cross-strait investors and create a better investment environment.
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) signed the two agreements after a five-hour meeting at the Grand Hotel in Taipei.
The investment protection pact would set up a mechanism to solve G2G (government-to-government), P2P (private-to-private) and P2G (private-to-government) disputes, and help protect the rights of Taiwanese businesspeople in China, while the customs cooperation agreement would facilitate customs reporting and information sharing.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
The signing of the investment pact will offer cross-strait investors stronger institutionalized protection for their property rights, management rights and personal safety, Chiang said.
Under the agreement, investors will be able to choose arbitration institutions in Taiwan or China to deal with their disputes. The protection extends to Taiwanese investments in China made via a third country or area, but investors would not be allowed to pick an arbitration institution in the third area.
An SEF official said that the Beijing government still needs to work out related legislation for P2G commercial disputes, but added that it had seen China’s “sincerity” in enacting the agreement as soon as possible.
ARATS Vice Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中) said the pact would provide strong protection to Taiwanese investors in China, while increasing cross-strait bilateral investments.
As for the customs pact, companies from both sides should enjoy lower costs after customs valuations and tariff classifications are standardized, officials said.
During the eighth round of cross-strait talks yesterday, officials also agreed that other Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) issues relating to commodity trade, service trade and a dispute-resolving mechanism would be discussed at the next round of talks.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chiang acknowledged that the implementation of 16 previous agreements — including the rights of Taiwanese civilians or businesspeople detained in China, opening Taiwan to Chinese individual tourists, deportation of economic criminals and food safety — had failed to meet public expectations.
“People across the Taiwan Strait are highly supportive of systematic cross-strait negotiations, but the implementation of some agreements failed to meet expectations ... The two sides should join forces and examine the implementation of agreements on a regular basis to avoid mishandling of individual cases from damaging mutual trust,” he said.
To address concerns over the personal safety of Taiwanese businesspeople detained or deprived of their personal freedom in China, the investment protection pact states that Chinese authorities should inform the detainees’ family members or companies within 24 hours, and allow family members and lawyers to visit them. Taiwan is to follow the same procedures when dealing with Chinese businesspeople detained in Taiwan.
The issue has drawn wide attention in Taiwan after Bruce Chung (鍾鼎邦), a Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioner, was detained in China on June 18 for what Chinese authorities described as “jeopardizing China’s national security.”
Chung’s detention has raised concern about China’s poor human rights record. Pro-independence advocates and civic groups have questioned China’s willingness to implement the investment protection agreement and protect Taiwanese investors’ personal safety.
Chen yesterday promised that the two agreements would help foster a better environment for investors across the Taiwan Strait and said follow-up negotiations on the ECFA would be the priority in future talks.
The SEF and ARATS will also discuss new issues in future cross-strait negotiations, such as technology, culture and education, which have increasingly drawn public attention as cross-strait exchanges increased, he said.
After signing the agreements, Chiang and Chen exchanged gifts. The SEF presented a lacquer painting featuring grapes to symbolize a fruitful cross-strait development, while ARATS gave the SEF a pair of vases.
The two envoys did not comment on speculation that both would retire from their posts and that this would be the last time they would be participating in cross-strait talks.
“It is thanks to the team’s hard work that we have achieved the signing of these follow-up agreements after the cross-strait ECFA,” Chiang told a press conference after the signing ceremony.
Later yesterday, the SEF confirmed that service trade would be the priority issue in the next Chiang-Chen meeting.
Investment Commission Executive Secretary-General Fan Liang-tung (范良棟), who was at the meeting, said that compared with service trade, commodity trade would be more difficult to handle as it involves the issue of zero tariffs.
However, the SEF remained confident that the issue of commodity trade may finally be solved following its success in signing the ECFA.
The SEF added that it expected to establish long-term bilateral contacts with ARATS to review the execution of agreements signed to promote the welfare of people from both sides of the Strait.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS