The nation's permanent representative to the WTO, Yen Ching-chang (
Yen said he met frequently with other countries' ambassadors to the WTO, including the US ambassador, but has never heard of complaints similar to those made by Douglas Paal, the director of the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan.
Yen said if Taiwan had been lax in carrying out its promises as Paal insinuated, he would be over-whelmed with complaints from other WTO members and would be busy answering charges before the WTO dispute settlement body. But the fact is that no such complaints have been lodged, Yen said.
As a WTO member, Taiwan is required to abide by the trade body's regulations. Other members are obliged to settle their trade disputes with Taiwan through the WTO mechanism rather than accusing Taiwan outside of the WTO, Yen said.
Yen made the comment in response to a remark made by Paal in Washington on Wednesday. Paal said in a speech to the Asia Society that Washington was unhappy with Taiwan's efforts to fulfill its WTO commitments and he saw no significant progress in Taipei's protection of intellectual property.
Paal said Taipei's failure to improve its protection of intellectual property rights would hinder plans for a free-trade agreement with Washington.
Yen said Paal's complaint about intellectual property rights could be addressed from three aspects, namely: whether Taiwan's laws meet the international standard on the protection of intellectual property, whether laws have been effectively implemented and whether the court has meted out punishment to offenders according to the law.
But Yen said that no matter where the problem originated, the protection of intellectual property has nothing to do with Taiwan's WTO commitments.
Noting that Washington has complained that Taiwan's rice import system is not in compliance with WTO regulations, Yen said this dispute can be settled through bilateral negotiations, but it doesn't mean that Taiwan has violated its WTO commitments.
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