The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday said it was still waiting for Mainland Affairs Council authorization to discuss the planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with Beijing during the third cross-strait talks scheduled for the first half of the year.
SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) said the SEF needed the council’s authorization to engage in talks with Beijing on the issue.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has said the issue would be on the agenda of the third round of talks between Chiang and his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
Chiang yesterday said that inclusion of the topic in the forthcoming talks would “hinge on future developments,” adding that they had to receive the council’s authorization.
Chiang made the remarks during a tea party held to celebrate the foundation’s 18th birthday in Taipei yesterday afternoon.
Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) yesterday confirmed the SEF would require the council’s authorization to proceed.
The topic, however, “will not be an issue for negotiation” during the upcoming Chiang-Chen talks.
The foundation has said that both sides would “talk” rather than “negotiate” the issue during the upcoming Chiang-Chen meeting.
Lai described an ECFA as a “special” economic pact, the content and scope of which would require dialogue between the two sides.
“It will not run counter to the spirit of the WTO,” she said. “The government will also make sure that the interests of all industries are upheld.”
If both sides are to sign an ECFA, Lai said it would be different from a free-trade agreement (FTA) signed between two WTO members.
An FTA is different from an ECFA, she said, because an FTA takes a long time to negotiate and covers a broad area.
Lai said that any WTO member only signs an FTA based on its own interests.
While the content of the accord had not been finalized, Lai said it was premature to worry about what it would be called.
Lai said the economic pact would target certain industries at the initial stage, but both sides had to negotiate and agree on the matter. The government would also communicate with the public and industries. They would explain the matter to the legislature after completing the evaluation and then talk with Beijing, she said.
Meanwhile, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) reportedly rejected China’s attempt to negotiate an ECFA.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) told reporters after visiting Chen at the Taipei Detention Center that Chen told him that an ECFA was a scheme Beijing was using to push its political agenda.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS