Taiwan and Singapore will explore the possibility of signing an economic cooperation agreement under the WTO framework, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
Taiwan and Singapore made the announcement in a joint press release and officials will meet later this year for discussions, Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.
The Taipei Representative Office in Singapore said on its Web site that Taiwan and Singapore had agreed to “explore the feasibility of an economic cooperation agreement” under the framework of the WTO and that the Executive Yuan was also eyeing Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand as potential targets for trade pact negotiations.
Lo said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had promised during a debate with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in April that he would lead a task force to push the signing of free-trade agreements (FTA) or economic cooperation accords with other countries after the inking of an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with Beijing in June.
The president was glad to see the task force deliver results within one month, Lo added.
If Taiwan and Singapore ink an economic cooperation agreement, Lo said, the city state could serve as a bridge for Taiwan to develop closer economic ties with India, Japan and ASEAN.
Asked why the proposed pact was called an economic cooperation agreement and not an FTA, Lo said trade agreements signed under the WTO framework have different names and not all are called FTAs.
As for the name the country would use to sign the agreement, Lo said it would be the “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (Chinese Taipei),” which is the name the former DPP administration used when the country joined the WTO in 2000.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday lauded the development, saying this meant the government made the right decision in signing the ECFA.
The development has “political significance” although Taiwan and Singapore is not Taiwan’s biggest trade partner, KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said.
KMT Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) said that because of the ECFA, he expected more countries would follow in Singapore’s footsteps and negotiate FTAs with Taiwan.
The DPP, on the other hand, said it was not a surprise that Taiwan and Singapore were negotiating a trade deal given that most of the groundwork had been completed under the former DPP administration.
“It’s not a breakthrough, and it’s not something to show off,” DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said, adding that the KMT government should instead aggressively push for FTAs with larger trading partners such as the US, Japan or the EU.
It is also cause for concern that the pact the government is negotiating with Singapore is based on the ECFA model, rather than a full-scale country-to-country FTA, he said.
“The government needs to make something clear: Just what exactly is Taiwan’s status in negotiating these economic agreements?” he said. “We shouldn’t keep compromising our sovereignty.”
As Singapore accounts for “less than 1 percent” of Taiwan's annual trade volume, Julian Kuo (郭正亮), the DPP’s ECFA response team spokesperson, said that even if the deal were signed, its contribution would be insignificant.
Ministry of Economic Affairs figures show that Singapore accounted for 3.55 percent of Taiwan's external trade last year, making it the nation's sixth-largest trading partner.
The presidential spokesman said the opposition's comments were just “sour grapes” because the KMT government was able to accomplish what the former DPP administration failed to achieve.
Lo said the DPP was contradicting itself by “complaining” on the one hand about the small trade volume with Singapore, and on the other hand “whining” that the KMT had taken all the credit.
“I think they should straighten out their reasoning before making any comment,” he said.
China, meanwhile, reacted carefully to the news yesterday.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) called on “relevant countries” to handle the issue with “caution.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, in a brief and characteristically opaque statement carried by Xinhua news agency, said: “We believe Singapore will continue to stick to the one China policy, and thus properly handle economic and trade relations with Taiwan.”
Taiwan currently has free-trade deals only with diplomatic allies Panama, Guatemala and Nicaragua. It has been pushing for ties with major markets, but talks have been bogged down mainly due to pressure from Beijing.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG, VINCENT Y. CHAO AND AGENCIES
Also See: Singapore the key to ASEAN: officials
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS