Wednesday, January 27, 2010

ECFA negotiators again pledge agriculture, labor protection

Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) Fresh off a just-concluded first round of talks with China on a proposed trade agreement, Taiwan negotiators again pledged Wednesday that there will be no further opening to Chinese agricultural products or admission of Chinese labor under the pact.

Negotiators from Taiwan and China gathered in Beijing Tuesday for the first official meeting on the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), which is aimed at improving bilateral economic ties and lowering trade barriers.

The issues of agriculture and labor are two of the main concerns mentioned in local public forums, as farmers and local workers fear they would be squeezed out if labor and more agricultural products from China are allowed to enter the Taiwan market Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Chairman Liu Teh-hsun said Taiwan has made clear its position that there will be no lifting of the current restrictions on 836 Chinese agricultural products.

China fully understood Taiwan's position, therefore, "no textual representation (of that position) is required in the final agreement," Liu told the media.

The negotiations did not touch on the labor issue, but the Taiwan government is willing to explain this over and over again to allay public fears, said Kao Koong-lian, Vice President of the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF), Taiwan's quasi-official organization that deals with cross-Strait matters.

Blue-collar workers were not included in Taiwan's commitment to the movement of natural persons when it entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002, therefore Chinese workers will not be allowed to work in Taiwan, said Huang Chih-peng, Director General of Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT).

"Chinese labor will not be an issue, " said Huang, one of the 13 members of the Taiwan delegation that was engaged in the talks.

Council of Agriculture (COA) Vice Chairman Hu Hsing-hua also reiterated Tuesday that Taiwan's agricultural sector is small and vulnerable and that agricultural issues will not be included in the negotiations.

Kao and Liu declined to confirm the date and location of the second round of talks on the trade pact, but it was reported it would take place in Taipei before the Chinese New Year in mid-February.

Only the basic contents of the pact were discussed in the first round of talks during which the two sides agreed on the inclusion of an early harvest list for tariff concessions in the initial stages of the pact.

The two sides also agreed to discuss commodity trading and market opening to service trade, origin certification rules, mechanisms for solving trade disputes, trade relief, investment and economic cooperation.

The negotiators did not produce their early harvest lists but only talked about the major principles regarding the agreement, Huang said.