China ready for ECFA

Wang made the remarks when speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2009 seminar on cross-strait relations held at the JinJiang Hotel in Chengdu of Sichuan Province. The seminar was, for the first time, jointly organized by the Research Center of Relations Across the Taiwan Straits under the Taiwan Affairs Office and the Taipei-based Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.

Wang said that mainland China has almost completed all the preparations for negotiations on the signing of the ECFA, and is willing to kick off such negotiations as soon as possible, probably before the end of the year.

“If necessary, both sides can exchange views on the issue at the upcoming talks between the upcoming talks between ARATS and SEF,” he said.

As economic exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and China have reached a substantial level, it's highly imperative and an inevitable trend for both sides to sign the ECFA to further normalize and systemize cross-strait economic relations, Wang said.

Since the beginning of the year, Wang continued, academic institutions on both sides have completed feasibility study reports on the signing of the long-term economic cooperation pact, and their common conclusions are that through the inking of the pact, the two sides across the Taiwan Straits can gradually remove bilateral trade barriers, rationalize distribution of resources and expand cooperation scope and scale, thereby positively promoting foreign trade and economic growth of both sides.

The ECFA should be inked in a way to meet economic cooperation needs, conform to the cross-strait trade and investment characteristics and comply with the direction for the development of cross-strait ties, according to Wang.

The content of the ECFA can cover cargo trade, service trade, investment and economic cooperation, and both sides can first talk on the establishment of cooperation framework and goals, and then on concrete details, Wang noted.

He stressed that inking the ECFA will help to comprehensively deepen cross-strait economic cooperation, and allow both sides to jointly counter the economic globalization and the growing trend towards a regional economic bloc.

Wang Yi's remarks are deemed as a positive response to the statement made earlier by Chairman P.K. Chiang of the SEF that the SEF has set the ECFA and investment protection accord on the agendas of his fourth round of talks with his Chinese counterpart Chairman Chen Yunlin of ARATS in December in Taichung.

Chang Wu-yueh, dean of the graduate school on mainland China study of Tamkang University, said that although the ECFA is not likely to be signed at the upcoming Chiang-Chen meeting in Taichung, signing of the ECFA will become a key topic in the fifth round of such talks set for the first half of 2010.

Taiwanese participants in the seminar held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, included Vice Economic Minister Huang Chung-chiu, Vice Chairman Shan Chi of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, scholars and representatives of leading Taiwanese enterprises.

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