Taipei Times: Do you view Taiwan's accession as more of a diplomatic triumph or simply a breakthrough for further developing the economy?
Yen Ching-chang (
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO.
I would also say it's really a very important chapter for Taiwan to join such an important international economic institution. Accession to the WTO cannot be compared to membership in APEC; it's is not a rule-creating body.
The WTO really is the international trade rule creating body. Nowadays slightly more than 95 percent of international trade is under the operation rules of the WTO. Taiwan is an export-oriented economy and so our accession to WTO ensures our export goods will be accorded the so-called most favored nation treatment (MFN).
TT: How important is membership in the international trade body for a country so dependent on export markets?
Yen: Exports are highly related to economic performance. So how to ensure MFN treatment for our exports is really important. In the past most of our trading partners provided MFN treatment for our exports.
However, in the past occasionally our export goods would be subject to some discriminatory treatment by some countries and under those circumstances Taiwan certainly didn't have any applicable channel to solve the dispute.
In addition to that in the course of globalization and liberalization, sustained development in Taiwan needs to be highly linked with the tendencies of the international trading system.
WTO is a very important international body in terms of creating the global trading system. So now that Taiwan is in the WTO, we will play a broader role in terms of forming the new international trade system.
TT: Considering the importance of Taiwan's membership in the WTO both diplomatically and economically, is your role more diplomat or trade negotiator?
Yen: I need to play different roles. For instance if I'm involved in a round of trade talks I need to be the trade representative.
Based on my understanding of this particular area I consider I should well represent my country to safeguard our interests. In Geneva all the so-called permanent representatives of members of WTO have another title, which is ambassador.
So sometimes I will need to be a diplomat. The official title is ambassador and permanent representative.
The interaction between all the permanent representatives will be almost the same; on one hand a trade specialist and at the same time also a diplomat.
TT: All eyes are on how China and Taiwan will interact as equal members of the WTO. Your choice of John Teng (
Yen: My choice of John Teng to be one of my deputies actually is simply based on consideration of his working background in economic circles.
When considering two deputies I wanted one from economic circles and the other from foreign affairs. Mr. Teng has additional credit as now he serves as vice chairman of Mainland Affairs Council.
I believe my delegation in Geneva will be asked or expected to have some dialogue with the delegation from China. The inclusion of Mr. Teng in my delegation will help me in this regard. Also US President George W. Bush suggested to Jiang Zemin (
As the ambassador from Taiwan I highly welcome the assignment. Whether the suggestion will be adopted appropriately, there are certainly some factors that need to be taken into account. One is that whether the Chinese ambassador has the reasonable authorization from Beijing to do so nobody knows. Another very important factor is whether there are some pre-conditions set forth by the Chinese side is still unknown to us.
TT: What is the extent of your authorization in dealing with China in Geneva?
Yen: Our president already proclaimed publicly that Geneva would be a welcome platform for Taiwan and China to engage in non-political dialogue so within that context I am certainly authorized by our president. But the matter cannot be decided simply by Taiwan side. We need to wait and see.
Taipei Times: Have you contacted the Chinese ambassador yet?
Yen: I haven't had the chance to meet him yet.
TT: All throughout Taiwan's 12-year bid to join the WTO there was intense public and offstage attempts by Chinese officials to obstruct or at least alter the conditions of Taiwan's entry. This occurred right up to and throughout the Doha meeting at which both were admitted. How do you expect China to behave toward Taiwan under the WTO?
Yen: Taiwan spent 12 years in the course of joining the WTO. The reason for us to spend such a long period of time is obvious: China. But now I consider the games to be over because both sides are members of WTO and both sides pride their membership. I believe both delegations will have a much more cooperative relationship in Geneva. If not we will embarrass the other members of WTO and also have a bad influence to the proper function of the WTO.
All the members enjoy the same rights and need to take up the same obligation. It is certainly a multilateral instead of a bilateral relationship. So in that sense I don't believe the Chinese delegation can really intervene in our participation in Geneva.
TT: The WTO secretariat went to considerable lengths to make sure China could not sully Taiwan's entry process at Doha by stalling Beijing from signing accession documents until Taipei's had been approved. Do you see the WTO secretariat taking a proactive role in facilitating a better relationship across the Strait?
Yen: I'm quite confident in this regard. When I paid my first courtesy call on Mike Moore, director-general of the WTO, he simply told me that secretariat would be totally neutral to handle matters of all members. Of course he didn't especially mention China but I could tell what he was trying to tell me. That's a good sign. He told me the secretariat has had a lot of previous experience in such matters and strict neutrality is the guideline. So I'm quite confident.
TT: What's the message you would like to carry to the Chinese delegation in Geneva?
Yen: Considering the fact that China has already become the second-largest export market for Taiwan I believe developing a much more friendly economic relationship between two sides of the Taiwan Strait very important but also very practical. As members of WTO I highly welcome the Chinese delegation to have dialogue with us if they have some complaint or matter related to the execution of the WTO system in Taiwan.
TT: China has recently announced that it has launched two investigations into allegations that Taiwanese makers of cold-rolled steel and PVC had been dumping their products in Chinese markets. How do you view the motivation behind the investigation and are they justified?
Yen: Firstly all the members of the WTO have the discretionary power to engage in an anti-dumping investigation.
When the dumped goods from any country create substantial injury to the industry in that particular country the member concerned can engage in an anti-dumping investigation.
However the imposition of anti-dumping duties should not create additional international trade barriers. So there are some requirements for the country concerned to undertake the imposition of anti-dumping duties. With the two current investigation cases are underway in China.
We need to be very objective to look at possible development of the investigation in China. If they totally follow the regulations of WTO, which means they complete the investigation and make sure there is dumping and that it caused material injury to Chinese steel industry and there is cordial link between dumping and material injury and certainly Chinese government should be allowed to impose anti-dumping duty.
TT: Can we expect to see a WTO meeting being held in Taiwan any time soon?
Yen: Not quite sure. We would be very privileged to host this kind of meeting in the very near future. As Taiwan is a member of the WTO we enjoy the same footing as every other member. So if Taiwan was provided an opportunity to host a meeting we would certainly do that. However if Taiwan tried to maintain a high profile in Geneva probably China would respond. But I don't want to have this kind of assumption that China will act in that way. I prefer to think we will cooperate in a much more agreeable manner.
TT: It's been three months since Taiwan was officially admitted to the WTO on January 1. How has Taiwan exercised its rights as a member in that time?
Yen: On March 11 I attended the (Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund) Pledging Conference in Geneva. The objective was to simply try to create a global trust fund.
The global trust fund is simply to provide additional assistance to developing members and least developed members of the WTO. This was he first time for Taiwan to participate at a meeting after becoming full member. I represented Taiwan and we made a donation of US$300,000.
TT: What future role do you envision for Taiwan in the WTO?
Yen: Taiwan can gradually play a much more important role in Geneva. Of course a new round of multilateral trade talks will be in place in the second half of this year and for Taiwan as a quite powerful export oriented economy our experience of economic development can be shared by other members of WTO. Also after financial crisis in 1997 Taiwan can be regarded as the only country to show resilience in this area. Then in the past year after Taiwan undertook financial reform I consider our financial markets to become much stronger.
Taiwan certainly on some topics in the coming multilateral trade topics can play a very important role because any topic for the new round certainly try to enlarge the scope of the trading region. For instance the trade in services under the WTO up to now don't require members to enforce 100 percent national treatment. But we have already liberalized our financial markets so in that sense we can try to promote the topic in this regard and include 100 percent national treatment in financial markets.
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