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Updated Monday, April 11, 2011 11:50 pm TWN, The China Post news staff

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MOEA hopes to seal key deals in 7th cross-strait talks

The China Post news staff -- Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang yesterday expressed hope that two vital cross-strait agreements, one on investment protection and one on trade dispute settlement, could be signed during the seventh meeting of top negotiators from both sides.

The Cross-Strait Investment Protection Agreement and the Trade Dispute Settlement Agreement are part of four documents to be hashed out by both sides of the strait after the signing of the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), which took effect on Sept. 12 last year.

Talks on the four documents began after Feb. 22, when a cross-strait economic cooperation committee under the ECFA framework started discussions. Among those who participated in the talks were Chen Xingyi, a Chinese official in charge of trade issues related to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, and Chuo Shih-chao, director general of the Foreign Trade Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), officials with the ministry said.

It is the Taiwan government's hope that the two pacts could be signed during the seventh meeting between P. K. Chiang, chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, and Chen Yunlin, head of the Association for Relations Across Taiwan Strait, Shih said.

According to Shih, talks have entered a “critical stage,” as negotiators seek to address some of the bottlenecks they are faced with.

MOEA investment official Ling Chia-yu left for Beijing in March for negotiations with his counterpart Lee Chenggang, seeking to reach a final deal, Shih said.

Of the issues facing negotiators from both sides, two are especially difficult to deal with, said MOEA officials. First, both sides need to address the handling of government disputes by private entities. This is a complex process and requires both sides to make related laws to make it possible.

Second, both sides need to agree on how disputes should be settled. The two sides have agreed in principle that, in the event of a trade dispute, it should first be settled by Taiwan and China alone, without involving a third country.

If the two sides can't come to a consensus, they must seek a mechanism that is “tailored to the characteristics of both sides,” MOEA said.

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