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Updated Thursday, December 10, 2009 9:24 am TWN, The China Post news staff

China to weigh local voices for ECFA

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Mainland China will take into consideration Taiwan's real situations, including different people's voices, when conducting bilateral negotiations on the contents of the proposed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), according to Jiang Zhengwei, China's Vice Minister of Commerce.

Jiang made the remarks when receiving a cross-strait economic and trade promotion delegation organized by Taiwan's Council for Industrial and Commercial Development of the ROC and headed by Steve Chen, a former economics minister in Taiwan.

Jiang said that mainland Chinese authorities clearly understand the impact of the signing of the proposed ECFA pact on the Ma Ying-jeou administration, which has been deemed one of the major factors behind the setback of the ruling Kuomintang in the Dec. 5 elections of local county and city chiefs.

He stressed that mainland China has a special affection toward Taiwan, and will consider any proposals as long as they can be conducive to cross-strait cooperation.

Jiang continued that Taiwan has placed the petrochemical sector among the early-harvest list, making mainland China understand that the signing of the ECFA is of great significance to the island's petrochemical industry.

In addition, while promoting the normalization of trade across the Taiwan Strait, mainland China also knows that Taiwan is quite sensitive about imports of agricultural products from the mainland, as it will threaten the livelihood of farmers on the island, according to Jiang.

All these conditions and different voices of Taiwan's people will be taken into consideration by mainland China in negotiating with the Taiwan over the contents of the ECFA, Jiang added.

On his part, Steve Chen proposed to Jiang that mainland Chinese trade delegations should consider making purchases from Taiwan's small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) instead of from large-sized ones only.

Chen said many SMEs can supply very good products, and therefore if mainland China can make purchases from some selected SMEs, domestic opposition to the signing of the ECFA with China will be eased significantly.

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