Taiwan would strive to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as it would be challenging for the nation to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) given China’s dominance in the latter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The RCEP was signed by 15 Asia-Pacific nations on the last day of the virtual ASEAN summit yesterday, becoming the world’s largest free-trade agreement.
The 15 nations are the 10 ASEAN members — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — and Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuen, Taipei Times
Taiwan would find it substantially difficult to join the RCEP, as it is led by China, the ministry said, adding that, as such, Taiwan’s main goal regarding regional economic integration is to push for participation in the CPTPP.
Taiwan would strive to initiate informal consultations, in preparation for joining the CPTPP, the ministry said, adding that it would continue to seek economic and trade cooperation opportunities with New Southbound Policy partner nations, the US, Japan and other like-minded nations.
Taiwan would make good use of the “US-Taiwan Framework to Strengthen Infrastructure Finance and Market Building Cooperation,” the ministry said, adding that the government would also support adding value to products and industrial transformation.
Separately yesterday, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of not proactively trying to join the RCEP over the past four years, and declaring failure without even trying.
The trade volume between Taiwan and RCEP members accounts for about 59 percent of the nation’s total trade volume, and Taiwan’s investment in those nations accounts for 65 percent of its total foreign investment, so if Taipei cannot join the trade pact, the nation would suffer, the KMT said.
The DPP, trying only to please the US in the hopes of furthering economic and trade cooperation with Washington, neglected the development of the RCEP and the CPTPP, the KMT said, adding that the DPP’s failure in this regard could result in Taiwan being marginalized economically.
The party urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to call a high-level, cross-ministerial meeting to discuss how the RCEP would affect Taiwan and draw up solutions, saying that a report should be presented to the Legislative Yuan so that the public is not kept in the dark.
SOLVED: Domestic orders have already overtaken the total sold to China last year, while the Canadian and US representative offices posted messages of support A joint effort by groups and individuals in Taiwan and abroad to prop up sales of pineapples after China announced a ban on imports of the fruit succeeded in just four days, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said yesterday. China on Friday announced that it would suspend imports of Taiwanese pineapples starting on Monday, citing biosafety concerns. Following the announcement, the council urged the public to assist farmers by purchasing pineapples, saying it hoped to sell 20,000 tonnes of the fruit domestically and 30,000 tonnes in exports. “Domestic orders have already surpassed the total sold to China last year,” COA Minister
‘UNFRIENDLY’: COA Minister Chen Chi-chung said that Beijing probably imposed the sanction because the pineapple production season is about to start in Taiwan More than 99 percent of pineapples sold to China passed inspections, the government said yesterday, after China earlier in the day abruptly suspended imports of pineapples from the nation, which Taipei called an “unfriendly” move. From Monday, China is to stop importing pineapples from Taiwan, the Chinese General Administration of Customs said. The regulation is a normal measure for ensuring biosafety, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said in a news release later yesterday. Since last year, Chinese customs officials have repeatedly seized pineapples imported from Taiwan that carried “perilous organisms,” Ma said. Were the organisms to spread in China, they would
Taiwanese netizens and politicians yesterday mocked a Chinese plan to build a transportation network linking Beijing and Taipei, calling it “science fiction” and “daydreaming.” Their comments were in reaction to the Chinese State Council’s release last week of its “Guidelines on the National Comprehensive Transportation Network Plan,” which include several proposed transportation links, with one map showing a line running from China’s Jingjinji Metropolitan Region (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) across the Taiwan Strait to Taipei. “This is the Chinese leadership daydreaming again of [fulfilling its] fantasy of extending China’s transportation network to Taiwan. I suggest people regard it as science fiction,” Democratic Progressive
‘ONE PERSON PER UNIT’: People undergoing home isolation cannot stay in a housing unit in which non-isolated people live, unless they have special approval Starting tomorrow, people under home isolation would be required to follow the “one person per housing unit” rule if in private housing, or stay at a quarantine hotel or centralized quarantine facility, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said the rules require people under home quarantine to be quarantined with one person per housing unit, or at a quarantine hotel or centralized quarantine facility. “Starting on March 1, individuals under home isolation will also be subject to the ‘one person per housing unit’ rule,” he said. “We