Facing the prospect of tough competition from Chinese publishers, several major domestic publishers yesterday called on the government to create "a fair environment" for domestic publishers in which to compete with their Chinese counterparts.
Executives from China Times Publishing (時報出版公司), Cite Publishing (城邦文化事業), Crown Culture Corporation (皇冠文化集團), Locus Publishing Company (大塊文化), Commonwealth Publishing Co (天下文化), and other major Taiwanese publishers made the call in a statement signed at a press conference yesterday. Government Information Office Director-General Arthur Iap (葉國興) said at the end of April that the government planned to complete its revision of administrative regulations to open Taiwan's market to books imported from China by the end of May .
The statement said that domestic publishers supported the government's stance of opening the market. "The trend is unavoidable. The freedom of the flow of publications ensures the readers' right to read and to choose what they read," it said.
It also said that "protecting domestic publishers' legal rights and avoiding unfair competition are also important."
Hao Ming-yi (郝明義), chairman of the Locus Publishing Company, said that lower printing costs in China would mean that cheap Chinese books would have a great impact on the domestic market.
Chinese books often cost as little as one-sixth of the price of comparable publications in Taiwan.
Ho Fei-peng (何飛鵬), the chairman of Cite Publishing said: "Publishers in Taiwan are not demanding protection from the government. We are asking the government to provide fair rules under which to compete."
He said that the government could consider imposing additional taxes on particularly cheap Chinese-made books. WTO rules allow the levying of special anti-dumping taxes in the event that an import costs less than a certain percentage of the price of a locally produced equivalent.
Other than the price issue, the participants also voiced concerns about copyrights or rights to reproduce, publish and sell written material. Ping Yun (平雲), vice president of the Crown Culture Corporation, said that since both Chinese and Taiwanese publishers usually obtain copyrights at the same time, "The Chinese version of a book of which there is also a Taiwanese version should be prohibited from being imported to protect the rights of domestic publishers who have the right to sell the book in Taiwan."
Iap could not be reached for comment yesterday but an official at the GIO, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the GIO was aware of the publishers' concerns, which it was taking into account in its draft revision of the regulations.
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