Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) yesterday said in China that he hoped a service trade agreement can be signed with China by the end of the year.
He also called on China to open up more of its service sector to Taiwanese businesspeople.
Chiang made the remarks during a one-day meeting on the transformation of Taiwanese businesses sponsored by the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China.
He said a trade service pact would be the focus of the next round of cross-strait talks between the SEF and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
The last round of SEF-ARATS talks took place in Taipei early last month.
“I hope such an agreement could be signed at the end of the year, but it will depend on the progress of negotiations,” he said at the meeting, which was also attended by ARATS Vice President Wang Zaixi (王在希).
He urged the participants at the meeting to outline which services they wished to enter in China, so Taiwan’s negotiation team could prepare for the next round of talks.
Chiang also said that the medical service, financial and film industries were possible areas in which Taiwanese businesses could invest.
Taiwanese businesses in China are mostly involved in OEM business, but they should shift to the service industry from the manufacturing industry in the wake of the global economic crises in recent years, he said.
They need government support and assistance from both sides of the Taiwan Strait in the transformation process, Chiang said.
He added that if Taiwanese businesses could upgrade themselves through transformation, they would make a great contribution to the economic development of China.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS