The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) is likely to take effect next month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said yesterday.
The legislature on Tuesday last week approved the pact and related legal revisions as well as an accord on the protection of intellectual property rights.
Following the legislature’s approval, it will notify the Executive Yuan, which will then inform the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). The council will then authorize the SEF to convey the information to its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), and the trade pact will come into force the day after the notification is received.
MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) yesterday declined to speculate on the exact date for the implementation of the ECFA, saying only that each side would inform the other once respective procedures are complete.
The legislature must also inform President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that the legal revisions pertaining to the trade pact have cleared the lawmaking body so that the president can promulgate them into law.
Ma on Wednesday promulgated amendments to the Trademark Act (商標法), Patent Act (專利法) and Plant Variety and Seed Act (植物品種及種苗法). The Customs Tariff Act (海關進口稅則) is currently making its way to Ma’s desk.
The “early harvest” program, meanwhile, will take effect on Jan. 1 next year. The program refers to a list of goods and services that will be subject to immediate tariff concessions or exemptions, which forms the backbone of the proposed deal.
China has agreed to gradually lower tariffs for 539 categories of imports, with an estimated value of US$13.8 billion a year. Beijing also agreed to open 11 service categories and 18 farming and fishery categories.
Although the 539 categories of traded goods accounted for only 16 percent of China-bound exports, the administration said they were still conducive to overall economic development.
Chinese exporters, on the other hand, will get a reciprocal deal on 267 items, with an estimated value of US$2.9 billion a year.
In related news, an official familiar with the ECFA said yesterday that China did not rule out notifying the WTO of the trade pact it signed with Taiwan.
With Taiwan and China both playing a significant role in world trade, the ECFA has drawn the attention of many WTO members, the official said.
Taipei and Beijing recently discussed whether they should formally notify the WTO of their pact, the official added.
Because the ECFA was signed by the SEF and the ARATS — two semi-official bodies responsible for handling two-way exchanges — Taiwan will send the WTO a letter signed by Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥), explaining that the trade pact was inked with the authorization of the two governments.
Since the ECFA is considered a regional free-trade agreement, WTO rules dictate that the organization be notified.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS