The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could give Taiwanese businesses an opening to “move further up the value chain and develop more of [their] own branded goods and services,” a new analysis by the Brookings Institution says.
However, in the view of Brookings Taiwan studies director Richard Bush and economics expert Joshua Meltzer, the reasons for Taiwan to join the TPP go beyond the potential market openings with major trading partners and are “more strategic in nature.”
They say that the TPP’s liberalization agenda will require Taiwan to undertake a range of economic reforms that will have a “significant and positive impact” on Taiwan’s productivity, competitiveness and economic growth.
“Joining TPP can become a driver of domestic economic reform in Taiwan and in this respect could have a similar impact as the World Trade Organization,” Bush and Meltzer say in the analysis.
The TPP was built on a free-trade agreement between New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei.
In 2008, the US joined what became the TPP negotiations. Australia, Peru and Vietnam joined soon after, followed by Malaysia. Canada and Mexico joined the TPP last year and Japan joined the TPP negotiations a few months ago.
The negotiations are likely to be finalized early next year.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has committed Taiwan to joining the TPP by 2020.
The analysis notes that the parties to the TPP represent 650 million people and comprise a third of world trade.
One aim is to phase out tariffs on more than 11,000 products, with the most controversial being textiles, apparel, footwear and agriculture.
Taiwan’s membership in the TPP would allow other members to take advantage of the Taiwan-China Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and use Taiwan as a platform for trading and investing with China, the analysis says.
Meeting the goals of an agreement will not be an easy policy task for Taiwan, the analysis says.
“The US has a perception that Taiwan does not adopt science-based regulations for food safety,” it says.
“Some American officials and business representatives feel that regulators instead respond to public sentiment whipped up by a sensationalist media by adopting regulations that do little for food safety and a lot to protect local agricultural producers,” it says.
Bush and Meltzer cite Taiwan’s ban on imports of pork treated with ractopamine as an example.
The Ma administration should start developing policies aimed at liberalizing its agricultural sector while also providing policies to retrain and support those harmed economically, they say.
Joining the TPP would also require Taiwan to liberalize its services sector, but this would “drive innovation and reduce costs.” It would also help Taiwan become an international financial center and give Taiwanese businesses access to world-class legal, consulting, financial and engineering services, the analysis says.
South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines have also expressed interest in joining the partnership.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
RSS