ECFA could help with trade deals: ex-AIT chair

Richard C. Bush, former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and director of the Brookings Institution's Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, made the comments at a seminar at Stanford University on U.S.-China-Taiwan Relations in the coming decade.

Anticipating that increasing power in China could affect Taiwan's economic development, Bush said that seeking to join international economic and trade organizations could be a feasible approach for Taiwan to maintain its economic momentum.

However, Taiwan would have a long way to go to reach that goal because it would still need to obtain China's consent, he added.

Bush also said that since China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) established a regional free trade area in January, Taiwan could be at risk of marginalization if it fails to sign free trade agreements (FTAs) with key trading partners.

Though a proposed cross-Taiwan Strait trade agreement could bring possible benefits and disadvantages for Taiwan, he said, it cannot be ignored that the pact would enable Taiwan to join regional economic integration.

Echoing Bush's view, Daniel Da-nien Liu, a research fellow at the Taiwan-based Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China will greatly enhance Taiwan's chances of signing FTAs with other countries and will eventually help to reduce Taiwan's economic reliance on China.

Also at the seminar, Shelley Rigger, a professor at Davidson College, noted that the idea of immediate unification or immediate independence has little appeal in Taiwan and suggested that Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) adjust its China policy if it wants to return to power.

Su Chi, former secretary-general of Taiwan's National Security Council, also said that according to various opinion polls, most Taiwanese people do not support Taiwan independence or unification with China. Instead they prefer to maintain the status quo and hope that pragmatic engagement with China will create more benefits for Taiwan, he said.

The DPP should follow the lead of Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party, which are beginning to face the political reality across the strait in a pragmatic manner, Su suggested.

He urged the DPP to join hands with the KMT to discuss plans that will be good for Taiwan's future and conducive to negotiations with China.

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