The Council of Agriculture (COA) is seeking to reduce the proportion of produce and fishery products exported to China to less than 2 percent, to reduce the anticipated effects of Chinese bans on Taiwanese goods, a source said on Sunday.
China has banned imports of Taiwanese groupers, beltfish, pineapples, citrus fruits and various processed foods and other items over the past year, and more bans are expected, the source said.
The council had already begun shifting exports to the US, Japan and Southeast Asian countries, and would continue to do so, the source said, adding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs was also working on the issue.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed by Taiwan and China in June 2010 in Chongqing, China, laid out 539 items that Taiwan could export to China tariff-free.
However, 18 of those items are now banned from being imported into China, the source said.
“We are not ruling out that China might simply scrap the ECFA to put further pressure on the Democratic Progressive Party,” the source said.
Only the fisheries and agricultural industries are currently affected by the bans, but if the ECFA is scrapped it would impact industries including textiles, machinery, petrochemicals, automotive, dyes, fiberglass, rubber tires and others, the source said.
Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said it was unlikely that China would scrap the agreement.
The ECFA “early harvest” list of items that fall under tariff concessions mostly includes electronics, machinery and agricultural products, and China relies on the electronic items on the list, he said, adding that it would harm China to give up on the agreement.
In turn, Taiwan relies on China for manufacturing, and benefits from selling finished and semi-finished products to the Chinese market, he added.
Many Taiwanese businesses have already begun shifting manufacturing to Vietnam, and if tariffs are reinstated on ECFA items, the effects on Taiwan would not be too great, he said.
“China has vast land and abundant resources, and there is no shortage of fruit and fishery products there. The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] used the ECFA to benefit Taiwan as a united front tactic,” he said.
“When the CCP cuts off the money-making channel of Taiwanese farmers, it can create a crisis. Therefore, dependence on the Chinese market for agricultural products must be reduced,” he added.
Chen said that more economic sanctions are possible at any time with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) entering his third term, adding that the government should accelerate the promotion of its New Southbound Policy to encourage the transfer of manufacturing to India, Vietnam and Thailand.
It should also push a transition toward smart industries that create high added value, he said.
Taiwan should also strive to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, deepen economic and trade relations with the US through the Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, and strive for a Taiwan-US free-trade agreement, he said.
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