President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday emphasized the importance of an economic pact that his administration intends to sign with Beijing, saying he hoped to see the framework signed no later than next year.
Ma said Taiwan cannot ignore the fact that China is the country＊s top trading partner and the world＊s third-largest economy. Over the past year, Ma said his administration had made efforts to improve cross-strait relations.
※Now we encounter a great challenge: whether we are going to have a trade agreement with the mainland,§ Ma said in English. ※This government has decided we want to negotiate an economic cooperation framework agreement [ECFA] with the mainland.§
Despite the opposition of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Ma said his administration should continue its efforts, hoping that such an agreement would be signed this year or no later than next year.
Ma made the remarks in Taipei City yesterday morning while addressing participants at an international conference on the future of the WTO.
Ma said the planned pact is necessary because while 40 percent of the country＊s exports go to China, there is no comprehensive trade system in place.
Ma said an ECFA would take a long time to complete, but the two sides could work on the items where there is agreement first, citing the example of an economic consensus signed between the 10 members of ASEAN and China.
That agreement was inked in 2002 and will take effect on Jan. 1. Ma said once it goes into effect, it will deal a significant blow to local industries, in particular petrochemicals, auto parts, textiles and machinery, which make up a large portion of the country＊s exports.
※So it＊s very urgent for Taiwan to negotiate such a framework agreement. We could also have an early harvest mechanism which would deal directly with the issues of custom tariffs, particularly affecting the type of products I just mentioned,§ he said.
The agreement would be a framework, Ma said, and the two sides could deal first with the items where there is agreement, ※put [them] into the early harvest basket and then we could move on.§
※We will work out a plan, a long list of items that we will negotiate with the mainland and figure out which one will be put into the agreement first,§ he said.
Ma said that it was not an easy task because of opposition from the DPP.
※They fear that if we go too close to the mainland, we might risk losing our sovereignty,§ Ma said. ※But we keep telling them that this agreement has nothing to do with sovereignty.§
Nor would the framework be the same as the agreement signed between Beijing and Hong Kong, Ma said, adding that the closer economic partnership arrangement (CEPA) was signed under the ※one country, two systems§ framework which Ma said is 〝totally rejected by Taiwanese.
Ma said the planned pact would be ※just a pure economic agreement.§
He also said that both sides were ready to extend goodwill in this regard, and that he was confident the two sides could ※make a mutually beneficial deal.§
In response, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the party questioned whether Ma＊s new timetable for the ECFA meant he had already reached a secret deal with China and had to hasten to sign it regardless of strong opposition.
While the ECFA is expected to affect certain Taiwanese industries, the Ma administration wants to sign it without a thorough review, he said.
He said the DPP insisted on holding a referendum on the signing of an ECFA.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS