At a February 9 press conference held at the Presidential
Office, President Ma Ying-jeou explained to the public the reasoning underlying
his administration's policies concerning negotiation of an economic cooperation
framework agreement (ECFA) with mainland China. The pact will include measures
focusing on tariff reductions and exemptions as well as on legal protection of
investments and intellectual property rights, while the overall aim, he
stressed, is to help Taiwan's people do business and boost Taiwan's
competitiveness.
President Ma reiterated the major reason for Taiwan to sign
an economic agreement with mainland China: Taiwan's competitiveness will be
adversely affected by the free trade between ASEAN and the mainland that began
on January 1, 2010 in accordance with their Framework Agreement on Comprehensive
Economic Cooperation. A cross-strait economic agreement, he said, will stimulate
foreign direct investment in Taiwan and thereby create more job opportunities
for Taiwanese.
As the President further explained, a cross-strait economic
agreement will encompass three major areas of concern. First is the matter of
tariff reductions and exemptions that will benefit Taiwan's high-volume exports
to the mainland. Second is the need for investment protection, requiring the
negotiation of a comprehensive set of measures that will enable Taiwanese
businesses to safeguard their interests whenever they encounter unfair or unjust
treatment in mainland China. Third is the protection of Taiwanese manufacturers'
intellectual property rights through arrangements whereby they can avoid being
victimized by pirating.
Addressing concerns that a cross-strait economic agreement
might hurt certain domestic industries, President Ma stated that the government
has formulated three types of remedial assistance programs. "Rejuvenation"
assistance is aimed at helping industries that are endangered but have not yet
been hurt. "Systematic adjustment" assistance is designed to help industries
that have begun to suffer, though not yet heavily, to improve their operations.
In the case of industries experiencing severe setbacks, a "damage relief"
program administered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs will provide assistance
amounting to NT$95 billion (about US$3 billion) over a 10-year period.
In response to widespread concern as to whether Taiwan will
open up to mainland labor and agricultural imports, the President underscored
the fact that agreements under the World Trade Organization framework do not
address movements of laborers, for which reason this will not be a subject of
cross-strait negotiations. As for agricultural products, he pointed out that
whereas Taiwan has over the years lifted restrictions on importation of 1,415
types of mainland products, his administration has not lifted restrictions on
even a single additional category of agricultural goods.
Responding to opposition parties' suspicions that mainland
China harbors political designs and schemes to use economic agreements to make
Taiwan more dependent on it, President Ma observed that since the mainland
became factory to the world, its trade with countries all over the globe has
ballooned. In this light, he said, the surging growth of Taiwan's trade with the
mainland and investment there is only normal. Pointing out that Taiwan has
always hoped to ink free trade agreements with other countries, the President
further opined that once a cross-strait economic agreement has been finalized,
resistance to and pressure against signing such pacts will lessen, while
incentives to do so will increase.
It is his fond hope, said the President, that Taiwan can
conclude an economic agreement with mainland China that will strengthen Taiwan,
facilitate cross-strait integration, and enable Taiwanese enterprises to extend
their reach worldwide, thereby making the nation increasingly open and
competitive.
【Source: Office of the President】