Taiwan and China have agreed that the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) will take effect today, the Straits Exchange F oundation (SEF) said yesterday.
The SEF said it had notified its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), yesterday morning that it had completed procedures for implementing the ECFA and a cross-strait intellectual property rights protection agreement.
ARATS replied in the afternoon that its preparation for the two agreements was finished and confirmed the implementation date, the SEF said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said that after the agreement takes effect, it would notify the WTO as soon as possible.
Once the trade pact takes effect, the two sides are to set up a cross-strait economic cooperation committee, and within six months will initiate discussions on agreements on investment protection, commodity trade, service trade and a dispute-resolving mechanism, as stipulated in the ECFA.
A ministry official said the committee was likely to be an ad hoc organization and that the two sides could assign deputy minister-level officials to be members.
A source in China said yesterday that SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) was scheduled to meet ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) in Shanghai on Thursday to discuss the establishment of the committee.
However, SEF Deputy Secretary-General Maa Shaw-chang (馬紹章) said that no date had been set for the meeting and that Chiang and Chen would not talk about ECFA-related issues.
Meanwhile, the ECFA's “early harvest” program will take effect on Jan. 1. The program refers to a list of goods and services that will be subject to immediate tariff concessions or exemptions.
It covers 539 types of Taiwanese goods exported to China, with an estimated annual value of US$13.84 billion, and 267 types of Chinese products imported into Taiwan, with an estimated value of US$2.86 billion.
Reiterating the opposition's objection to the trade pact, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said the ECFA would contribute to a further widening of the wealth gap and continued deterioration of local industries.
Tsai said the administration under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should deal with cross-strait affairs carefully instead of rushing ahead.
Aside from the political risks, the ECFA would have an even more negative impact on Taiwan’s economy, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said.
The removal of import duties on both sides and further relaxation of investment regulations will encourage more Taiwanese firms to export semi-finished products and raw materials to China for processing and re-exportation, creating more job opportunities and bringing more foreign exchange into China, the TSU said.
As such, the ECFA will only benefit China as more Taiwanese businesses relocate to China, it said.
The TSU added that with more companies in the high-tech industries moving to China, unemployment in Taiwan's manufacturing industry would spread to the technology sector.
At the same time, China will be able to export more finished consumer products to Taiwan, competing with local companies that target the domestic market, it said.
Describing the ECFA as China's first step toward the political annexation of Taiwan, the TSU said it would therefore continue to push for a referendum on the ECFA as it is the last line of defense for Taiwanese democracy.
Also See: Ma praises 1990 Kinmen Agreement
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
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
RSS