ROC President Ma Ying-jeou reiterated the importance of the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement during a recent interview with U.S. magazine Forbes, predicting it will open up new business opportunities for Taiwan firms.
“Taiwan’s services exports to mainland China will see an increase of 37 percent following the signing of the trade in services agreement,” Ma said.
At a time when the local market is saturated, expansion to mainland China “will help our services industry grow and expand to Southeast Asia, Europe and North America,” he added.
The president made the remarks in a June 19 interview at the Presidential Office in Taipei City.
According to Ma, Taiwan’s rapidly developing services industry accounts for 70 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, but related exports are limited, lagging behind Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
Over the past decade, Taiwan’s services industry has started making significant inroads in the mainland Chinese market. With Beijing keen on increasing the share of its services industry in GDP over the next five years, Ma said the pact will present great opportunities for local industries such as banking, e-commerce, food and gaming software.
In addition, the pact is an essential plank in the 2010 Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. It also underscores Taiwan’s commitment to trade liberalization and regional economic integration, as illustrated by bids for accession to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, he added.
Ma dismissed claims that the pact was arranged in secret as not grounded in fact. “Negotiations of the agreement were not conducted behind closed doors,” he said.
Before and after signing the pact, the government arranged 110 rounds of consultations with industry representatives, three official reports to the Legislative Yuan, 20 public hearings and 144 seminars for the sector.
“By the time the legislative review started in March, the pact had gone through the most open and transparent process in ROC constitutional history,” the president said.
Ma attributed opposition to the pact as stemming from unreasonable fears of mainland China. “We cannot overlook mainland China’s existence. We cannot avoid interacting with them,” he said.
For future engagement with Beijing, Ma said the government will quickly explain matters to the public in a broader and more careful fashion. “We must foster a healthy and balanced attitude toward mainland China.”
On Taiwan-U.S. relations, Ma said both sides have re-established mutual trust at high levels of government, thanks in part to his administration’s low-key, surprise-free approach to handling issues of mutual concern.
Given the solid communications channels and enhanced bilateral security and economic collaboration, “we have made relations perhaps even stronger than before the breaking of diplomatic ties.”
Ma also welcomed the U.S. pivot to Asia, stating it will allow most countries to find a balance point as they maintain relations with Washington for security concerns and engage Beijing for economic reasons.
“As long as this works well, it is a net positive for the region,” he said. (SFC-JSM)
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