Ma proposes Taiwan-China common market

In a speech delivered Monday at the London School of Economics, Ma, the Kuomintang (KMT) chairman and mayor of Taipei, said the two sides should sign a common market agreement, an agreement which would ultimately create one of the largest economic blocs in the world.

Ma said economic integration between Taiwan and China combined with Chinese plans to sign a free trade agreement with the 10-state Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2010 that would create a powerful economic bloc.

Pundits say Ma is very likely to be the opposition’s presidential candidate in the 2008 presidential elections.

Local economists and pro-independence politicians back home immediately shot down the idea.

“(It) is merely wishful thinking in light of Beijing’s ambition to invade Taiwan,” said economist Chen Po-chih, chairman of the Taiwan Thinktank.

It is something that a “layman who does not understand economics would say,” he said.

Chen said the European Economic Community — precursor to the European Union — was successful because member nations were aggressive toward one another and maintained political cooperation.

“Such cooperation is impossible ... because China has so far refused to renounce its military threat against Taiwan,” Chen said.

Chen said setting up a common market would require products traded between China and Taiwan to have equal tariff levels, adding he doubted if China was prepared to do this.

In addition, workers would be able to move freely between both countries and Ma’s KMT would have to prepare itself for an influx of hordes of Chinese workers, he said.

The hard line pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) voiced outright opposition to Ma’s idea.

TSU whip law maker Huang Shih-chuo said Taiwan would end up economically marginalized as Beijing would treat it as a domestic market.

“Economic integration can only move forward on the basis ... that the parties involved are independent, sovereign countries,” he said.

“Forming a common market like the one in Europe would do nothing for Taiwan except cost the country its competitiveness,” he said.

“The best way to sharpen our economic edge is to invest in Taiwan.”

Ma, who arrived in London on February 10 for a five-day visit, also said China should embrace democracy before Taiwan even considers unification.

“We do not rule out the option of eventual reunification between Taiwan and mainland China if the overall conditions across the Taiwan Strait are ripe,” Ma said.

“The conditions are ripe when mainland China develops to a stage where its political democracy, economic prosperity and social well-being are congruent with those of Taiwan,” he said.

Ma was speaking to a mostly Chinese and Taiwanese audience at the London School of Economics.

Ma, a Harvard-educated lawyer, said there was no timetable for unification, and that Taiwan would prefer to maintain the “status quo” until the time and conditions are favorable. When asked if democracy in China was a viable possibility, Ma said he believed the country would eventually embrace elected government.

“They have to find their own way to democracy. No one can tell them to do it,” Ma said. “Things will take care of themselves if the current economic development continues.”

Besides a shared history and language, China and Taiwan are economically entwined. Trade between the countries is worth US$71 billion, and an end to that relationship could lead to a US$42 billion trade deficit for Taiwan, Ma said.

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