4th round of Taiwan trade talks underway with high hopes
- Source: Global Times
- [03:07 December 22 2009]
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"It would become a new starting point for cross-Straits consultation and negotiation, which embeds the principle of "placing economic and pressing topics first," Zhou was quoted by SEF's magazine, Exchange, as saying.
Mainland Taiwan affairs chief Wang Yi said Monday that the two negotiators would also exchange opinions on future talks on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which will be based on the principle of equality and mutual benefit.
Li Yihu, an expert on Taiwan at Peking University, said the proposed ECFA would serve as a pathway for Taiwan to join the integration process of Asian economies and keep the island from being marginalized.
The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA), scheduled to launch January 1, will be the biggest free-trade zone in the world, boasting a market with a population of 1.9 billion and a combined GDP of about $6 trillion, official statistics say.
"The ACFTA will entitle 90 percent of products traded between ASEAN and China to zero tariffs and other favorable policies," Li said. "The opposition to the ECFA is a political interpretation of the issue by the DPP."
Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show that the total amount of cross-Straits trade hit nearly $130 billion last year, with a $77.6 billion surplus from Taiwan to the mainland.
Lin Bo, a researcher at the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that future preferential policies launched by the mainland will further cater to Taiwanese people to make sure they are the direct beneficiaries of the policies.
Qiu Wei contributed to this story
