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Updated Monday, March 30, 2009 9:22 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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ECFA to increase Taiwan's GDP by 1.37%: Yiin

C.K. Chiang, president of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin in May to lay the groundwork for the negotiations that should be concluded when they meet again before December.

Chen, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), came to Taipei in November 3 last year to sign four agreements, including those on direct shipping service and shortened air routes.

Opponents of the ECFA are afraid it will denigrate Taiwan's sovereignty as an independent country and affect farmers and labor.

Yen Ching-chang, a former finance minister and Taipei's representative to the World Trade Organization, said he believes Taiwan will not be marginalized for lack of the ECFA.

Wu Rong-i, a former vice premier and currently president of the Taiwan Advocates think tank, said the ECFA should not be signed unless the People's Republic of China and other member states agree to let Taiwan join the Asian free trade zone.

“We'll have to have an assurance before we sign the ECFA,” Wu pointed out.

Yiin made a “three-no” pledge for the conclusion of the ECFA. “There'll be no denigration (of sovereignty), no inflow of labor (from China), and no additional farm product imports (from China),” he promised.

On the other hand, Yiin said, the ECFA should be concluded with “a national consensus reached, step by step, and in such a manner as to make friends.”

With the ECFA signed, Yiin said, Taiwan will be able to sign FTAs with other countries.

“We understand farmers are seriously concerned about the conclusion of the ECFA,” Yiin said. Their products will be priced out of the market in Taiwan by cheap imports from China.

No items of import will be added, Yiin vowed. Moreover, he added, the government is ready to provide subsidies to the farmers affected and will make sure the labor force will lose no jobs to an additional import of migrant workers from across the Taiwan Strait.

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