Taipei, March 23 (CNA) The proposed trade agreement with China will be helpful for Taiwan despite its complicated nature making negotiations difficult and time-consuming, Taiwan's top cross-strait negotiator said Tuesday.
"This is going to be a bargain no matter how you calculate it, " said Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) -- Taiwan's quasi-official organization that deals with cross-strait matters -- while addressing reporters on the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
Negotiation of the ECFA, which is aimed at improving bilateral economic ties and lowering trade barriers, is expected to enter its second round later this month.
"Taiwan's economy is driven by exports. The key for Taiwanese businesses is receiving fair treatment in foreign markets. If they do, they will be fine, " Chiang said, adding that "the saddest thing is when you're competitive but not treated fairly." The talks have been progressing as expected, but have entered the "difficult" part of President Ma Ying-jeou's "first the easy, then the difficult" cross-strait policy, he said.
Given the complexity of the trade pact, which involves many government agencies, negotiations are expected to take some time, he said.
The veteran politician said that Taiwan and China had common interests when they negotiated for the "mini three links, " but the situation was different with the ECFA because both sides see advantages and disadvantages at the same time. The "mini three links" negotiations led to limited connections between Taiwan's Kinmen and Matsu and several cities in China's Fujian province.
Asked about the lack of consensus from the public and opposition from certain domestic sectors, Chiang said that Taiwan was forced to open its market because of World Trade Organization (WTO) stipulations.
Negotiations for WTO accession lasted almost 10 years and involved more than 30 countries, thousands of tariff elimination items and more than 240 meetings, he said.
"We lowered the average tariffs on our industrial products from 7 percent to 4 percent as well as those of some agricultural products from 20 percent to 12 percent. Did Taiwan businesses collapse? No, " he said.
In fact, he said, Taiwan's exports increased significantly after WTO accession.
He said that Taiwanese businesses suffered badly from 1986 to 1988, when the New Taiwan dollar appreciated by 40 percent relative to the U.S. dollar -- from NT$40 to US$1 to NT$25 to US$1.
"But Taiwan businesses survived, " he said.
Japan has taken notice of what Taiwan is doing, Chiang said, and now places the signing of free trade agreements (FTAs) at the top of its national economy policy.
Japan has always wanted to formulate its economic policy through the mechanism of the WTO, he said, but is now resorting to bilateral FTAs or regional FTAs after the stalled Doha talks and Taiwan's aggressiveness in seeking a trade agreement with China.
Chiang admitted that domestic opposition to the deal is still fierce, but said there is no way to reach consensus except through better communication with the people, which the government has been working on relentlessly.
"At the end of the day... without it (the ECFA) , Taiwan's trade volume will be taken away and domestic and foreign investments will move elsewhere," he said. (By Chris Wang) enditem/bc