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Thursday, September 9, 2010
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President reaches out to farmers, workers on Taiwan-China trade pact02/09/2010 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou sought to allay concerns Tuesday about a proposed trade pact between Taiwan and China in his first press conference to report on the progress in the trade talks.Ma said the pact, which has raised widespread concerns among the public that it will hit the country's traditional and agricultural sectors hard, is aimed at helping the people of Taiwan do business and enhancing Taiwan's competitiveness. Speaking in Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese and Hakka during the 45-minute press briefing, he also said that Vice President Vincent Siew and Premier Wu Den-yih will visit central and southern Taiwan to communicate the government's views. Ma promised that his administration will not allow the import of Chinese workers or more Chinese agricultural products into Taiwan. Taiwan allows the import of 1,415 Chinese agricultural products, only 479 of which were approved before 2000, when the current ruling Kuomintang (KMT) lost power to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), he noted. All the rest were approved between 2000 and 2008, when the Democratic Progressive Party was in power, Ma added. "No additional agricultural products have been allowed into Taiwan since I took office," he pointed out. "I also will not allow any new imports of agricultural products in the future." In addition, he went on, the Ministry of Economic Affairs will earmark NT$95 billion (US$3 billion) to help those likely to be affected by the pact. Ma also said the pact will cover tariff reduction, investment protection and intellectual property rights protection. "Taiwanese businessmen in China often need to solve their problems through unofficial channels," he said. "Therefore, we hope that the trade pact will include investment protection measures." Ma also dismissed concerns that Taiwan will overly depend on China when trade between the two sides further increases, as China is already Taiwan's biggest export market. He said it is natural to see a rise in trade, as China has become the world's factory and market. This story has been viewed 101 times. |
