ECFA early-harvest list may contain 500 items: Chinese official
Taiwan Economic News 2010/06/03
ECFA Early-Harvest List May Contain 500 Items: Chinese Official
Taipei, June 3, 2010 (CENS) — Mainland China may make major concession in the talk for cross-Taiwan Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) by expanding the early-harvest list, or priority items for tariff cut or market opening, to 500 items, rather than the expectation of 300, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN), sister publication of Taiwan Economic News (TEN).
The paper attributed the news source to a Chinese official in charge of Taiwan affairs, who stressed that China will open its market to Taiwans key industries and disadvantageous industries, adding that China doesnt request equality with Taiwan in the number of benefited items on the early-harvest list.
This is the first time for a Chinese official in charge of Taiwan affairs to express a definite stance on the early-harvest list, which conforms with the instruction of Chinese leaders to making concession to Taiwan in the ECFA talk.
The conciliatory gesture was made on the heels of a statement made by the spokesman of Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs objecting Taiwan to sign any official agreement with foreign countries, leading to concern among many local people that China may block Taiwans effort to sign Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with other countries.
In response, in an interview with BCC yesterday (June 2), President Ma Ying-jeou urged China not to block Taiwan`s effort to sign FTA with other countries, since foreign trade is the lifeline of Taiwan.
He noted that all agreements signed by the government with foreign counterparts are officials ones, with legal binding power, which are implemented by the public authority. He pointed out that FTA has become increasingly prevalent on the world stage, with its number topping 58 last year, compared with only three in 2000. Signing FTA with other countries is a right of WTO (World Trade Organization) members and Taiwan and China are both WTO members, according to Ma.
(by Philip Liu)
