Public support key to China FTA

He would also have sealed three accords - on food quarantine, industrial standards and fishing crews. But compared to the three previous rounds of talks between China and Taiwan, these accords were less groundbreaking than previous ones on direct transport links and tourism.

Instead, the meetings in Taichung serve to set the stage for the negotiation of a free trade deal at the fifth round of talks in China in the first half of next year. Taiwan hopes to sign the deal, called the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (Ecfa), so that it would not be left out when free trade agreements between South-east Asian countries and China, Japan and South Korea take effect in the next few years. Taiwan and North Korea are perhaps the only economies in East Asia that have not inked such pacts with their neighbors, Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou noted.

Export-oriented Taiwan hopes the Ecfa would make it easier for it to sign free trade pacts with other economies. This was an issue which “brooked not a second of delay”, Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and envoy to the cross-strait pow-wows, said at the opening of the talks on Monday.

If Taiwan did nothing, businessmen might take their investments elsewhere, for example, to its chief competitor, South Korea, Chiang noted.

However, the Ecfa issue has divided public opinion and sparked protests by pro-independence groups worried about Taiwan's over-reliance on China. While big businesses generally are for the Ecfa, workers, farmers and small businesses worry that the pact might open Taiwan's doors to cheaper imports from China.

The deal, which should have helped Ma score points, has become vote “poison” instead, said Professor George Tsai of the Chinese Culture University in Taipei. Some Taiwanese are convinced by the opposition's argument that it would pave the way towards unification between Taiwan and China, which have been separately ruled since 1949.

“He doesn't know how to sell it to the public, to tell them that it's good for them,” Prof Tsai said of President Ma.

Anti-China protests have dogged Chen throughout his trip. A police officer was hurt and six people detained late on Wednesday in the first violent episode. A last-minute halt to a planned tax avoidance agreement at the Taichung talks has also cast a shadow over the more complex Ecfa talks.

Even if the free trade pact is signed, it would only set out the broad direction of economic ties between the two sides but does not fill in the specifics, noted Professor Cao Xiaoheng, director of the Institute of Taiwan Economy at Nankai University in China.

“It has a framework, but not the dishes,” he told The Straits Times. Both sides would still need to negotiate issues such as the list of goods to be included for tariff reduction.

Analysts say the chance of Ecfa being signed by the next round of talks hinges in part on whether Taiwan can muster enough public support.

For now, some are calling for patience, after the rapid progress in cross-strait relations in the past year and a half.

“We have to take it step by step. Already, the rhythm of regular, institutionalized talks between the two sides has been set down. If you walk too fast after being separated for so long, the public could not completely accept it,” said Prof Cao.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email