Taiwan Today

Mainland China has finished preparations for the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement, said Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office under the mainland’s State Council, Oct. 26 in Chengdu, China. If necessary, Wang continued, Taiwan and the mainland can begin formal negotiations over ECFA at the end of the year, when the fourth round of cross-strait talks are due to take place in Taiwan. The director’s remarks represent the clearest and most complete statement that the mainland has made on ECFA to date. ECFA is a unique arrangement made between Taiwan and the mainland, one that has “special cross-strait characteristics,” Wang said, noting that the purpose of ECFA is to normalize trade relations and to deepen economic cooperation between the two sides. In terms of the content of ECFA and the procedure for signing the agreement, Wang said that it will cover mainly trade in goods and services, investments and economic cooperation. The two sides can start by establishing an overall structure and objectives, and work out the specific details later on. He praised Taiwan for agreeing to allow mainland investments on the island in June, saying that the move signaled that investment relations between the two sides were moving from a unilateral to a bilateral direction. Wang urged Taiwan to take an even more pro-active and open stance and gradually widen the scope of mainland investments allowed in Taiwan, so that the investment environment for mainland companies in Taiwan would be fairer. In response to Wang’s remarks, Liu Te-shun, deputy minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, said that Wang's remarks indicated the mainland has begun to adopt a more pro-active approach toward ECFA. Liu noted that Wang’s remarks can be viewed as a favorable response to Taiwan's take on ECFA, and that the mainland and Taiwan share similar views when it comes to ECFA. Taiwan has insisted that it will not allow agricultural products from the mainland to enter Taiwan under an ECFA. When Liu was asked what Taiwan would do if the mainland requested that this topic be dealt with earlier on, he said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Council of Agriculture are still researching the topic, and neither has submitted its findings to the MAC. The MAC will explain its stance in the future after it receives their findings. Liu said the way ECFA works is that the MOEA and its counterpart in the mainland will conduct researches on their own first, and then during the next stage the two sides will sit down in both formal and informal settings to exchange views. As long as both sides are ready, they can begin exchanging views on how an ECFA should be negotiated and signed. Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi said that the government would conduct negotiations with the mainland in a gradual and deliberate manner. Sources said that Taiwan hopes to sign an agreement by the end of this year at the earliest, or by beginning of next year at the latest. (HZW)