The failure of the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, has provided the time that Taiwanese farmers need to transform their business, a top agriculture official said yesterday after returning from the talks.
"The breakdown of the trade talks on agricultural issues is actually not bad news for Taiwan," said Lee Ching-lung (李金龍), chairman of the Council of Agriculture.
"The result has simply given a longer grace period for our farmers to cushion the impact brought by the proposed immediate market opening," Lee said.
Farmers have found it hard to survive in the face of increased tax-free imports following the nation's accession to the WTO in January last year, Lee said.
The council has been promoting "recreational agriculture" through the establishment of bed-and-breakfasts or farming and fishing activities to help the sector branch out into the tourism industry.
During this transformation period, the government has no intention of making further concessions on agricultural issues, except for slight reductions in the subsidies offered to farmers, Lee said.
During the Cancun meeting, Taiwan and nine other like-minded countries formed an alliance called the Group of 10 (G-10), Lee said. The other members include Japan, South Korea, Israel and Switzerland.
The G-10 members agreed to jointly call on their counterparts to apply rules set during the Uruguay Round of trade talks between 1986 and 1993 in future WTO agricultural talks, Lee said.
"We realized that we have to form an alliance with other countries in the WTO, or our voice or interests will be easily ignored," he said.
Aside from the collective appeal of the G-10, Lee said Taiwan, as a new member of the WTO, hopes to strive for a longer grace period for the liberalization of its agricultural market, the longer the better.
According to Lee, during bilateral talks with Japan in Cancun, Japanese lawmaker Shoichi Nakagawa proposed signing a free trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan.
Lee said such a pact would be welcomed, but there is no timetable yet as the two countries have not scheduled the necessary negotiations.
Lee said FTAs with other countries will become more important if the WTO fails to remain an arena for the international community to solve disagreements.
"We don't want to see that happen, since Taiwan worked hard and long to enter the WTO," Lee said. "But if negotiations in the WTO in the future go nowhere -- the way this conference did -- I believe that many countries will seek FTAs with other countries."
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS