Financial MOU could be signed soon: Wu

As to the proposed cross-strait partial free trade agreement known as the ECFA, the premier said that negotiators from Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits are expected to informally touch on the relevant issues in their upcoming round of talks scheduled to take place next month in central Taichung City.

It is also important for Taiwan and China to decide as soon as possible on their specific product categories on the early harvest list, he added.

“The proposed pact is like a rose. While those who look on the bright side see a flower and the pessimistic ones see only the thorns on it, the government must see both in order to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative impact,” the premier explained.

The “early harvest” lists contain the industries or services that each side will open for immediate tariff concessions or more liberal trade terms under the ECFA, similar to provisions under a free trade agreement.

According to Wu, the government still needs to work on increasing public support on the issue, although recent opinion polls showed that more than 50 percent of the people surveyed support signing ECFA with China.

“It would be more ideal and mature if we have more than 60 percent of public support on the ECFA with only 15-20 percent against it,” Wu said.

Noting that signing the ECFA with China will not only benefit both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Wu said it would also help to open trade negotiations more smoothly with countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“However, it would be illogical to assume that we can sign free trade agreements with any country after inking the ECFA with China,” the premier said.

The government hopes to seal an ECFA agreement with China as soon as possible to reduce the impact on Taiwanese businesses of the economic integration of China and the ASEAN, which will come into force next year.

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