Although the government hopes to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China by the end of this month, it is not certain whether the two sides will arrive at an accord by that time, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday.
“As some issues relating to the ‘early harvest list’ are stuck in negotiations, we are not sure whether a breakthrough can be made soon or whether an ECFA can be inked by the end of this month,” Wu said.
“We want China to offer tariff concessions for our weak industries to compete with other ASEAN countries in the Chinese market, but China also has to take care of the interests of its own industries,” Wu said.
“This is where the negotiations are stuck,” he said.
FREE-TRADE PACTS
Wu also reiterated that as a member of the WTO, Taiwan would “certainly” seize the opportunity to sign free-trade agreements (FTA) with other countries.
The two sides will start a third round of ECFA negotiations in Beijing today to discuss its text and provisions and the “early harvest list” that will determine items to be subject to preferential treatment in future cross-strait trade.
TAIWAN AFFAIRS OFFICE
Fan Liqing (范麗青), spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office under the Beijing-based State Council, said earlier yesterday that noticeable progress had been made in the ECFA negotiations and that more than 500 Taiwanese export items could be put on the early harvest list.
“China has done its best and will accept a large number of the items that Taiwan put on the list,” she said.
“China will benefit much less than Taiwan from the list in terms of the total valuation of the items and in terms of market scale,” Fan said.
“Whether or not an ECFA can be signed by the end of June will depend on both sides making further efforts,” she said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but