Ex-CEPD chief drums up support for trade pact

The East Asian markets are being incorporating into a single trade entity that will threaten Taiwan's role as a vital player in the regional production chain unless it is included, says former CEPD Chairman Chen Tain-jy.

Chen says, in his newly published book on the proposed cross strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), that the China trade pact is both a hedge arrangement against the nation's marginalization and a preemptive measure to ensure Taiwan an advantage in East Asia.

The pact will help the country catch up the 10 years it lost under its previous policy of non-engagement with China, according to Chen.

Taiwan is an important link in the East Asian production chain and a vital provider of components and up-stream materials, with 56 percent of its exports in 2009 going to China and ASEAN countries, which are the top two destinations for Taiwanese exports.

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