Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) yesterday said Taiwan cannot afford to damage its reputation by withdrawing the cross-strait service trade pact, because that would lead to the nation becoming marginalized in the global economy.
“Taiwan’s economic development has long been reliant on foreign trade, but we need to recognize that up to 60 percent of the country’s exports over the past few decades were goods,” Chang told a press conference in Taipei.
“It is time for Taiwanese service providers to explore the global market,” Chang said. “They can break into [the] China [market] with the help of the cross-strait service trade pact, or [into] other countries’ [markets].”
In response to student protesters’ demand that the pact be withdrawn, Chang said that Taiwan’s economic development would face difficulties if the nation chooses to block paths that have been built to lead to economic growth through international trade.
The pact, which was inked in June last year, can bring more beneficial than adverse impacts to the country’s tertiary sector, Chang added, citing studies conducted by the ministry’s trade negotiations office.
“The ministry admitted it could have done a better job in promoting the service trade pact, but we are intolerant of people who try to stain the trade agreement in a deliberate manner,” Chang said.
An outright decision to terminate the agreement may prompt suspension of follow-up negotiations on an agreement of trade in goods that was proposed under the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), Chang said.
He added that withdrawing the pact may also render the nation unable to sign new trade agreements with other countries in the future, “because we would then prove to the world that Taiwan is a country without creditability.”
On protesters’ concern that the pact was signed without communicating with industries, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Bill Cho (卓士昭) said: “The pact is not an under-the-table deal.”
“The ministry made at least three separate reports to the legislature about the trade negotiations office’s plan for trade talks on the pact, including one secret meeting,” Cho said. “We also met with many industry representatives ahead of signing the trade pact.”
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said the pact has been “misinterpreted” by intellectuals, including National Taiwan University economics professor Jang Show-ling (鄭秀玲) and former national policy advisor Rex How (郝明義).
Duh denied Jang’s claim that opening up Taiwan’s service market would cause millions of job losses.
As for How’s concern that Chinese operators would take over Taiwan’s telecom industry and thus harm the nation’s national security once the service trade pact is approved, Duh said: “The government has a mechanism that monitors who enters telecom operators’ machine rooms and will safeguard national security.”
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
RSS