Removing ECFA safeguards ‘devastating,’ legislator says

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration’s deletion of a safeguard chapter on Chinese imports could result in an influx of cheaper Chinese products to the domestic market, with devastating effects on local small businesses and the agricultural sector, a lawmaker said yesterday.

“[The deletion] brought me great distress and I found it unacceptable … The government had no reason to retreat from its current position,” Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-shin (許忠信) said at a press conference, calling for a special relief mechanism to protect local businesses from the potentially damaging effects of cross-strait trade liberalization.

DPP voices opposition to easing agricultural rules

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday voiced its strong opposition to further relaxation of rules governing Chinese agricultural imports, which it said could cause a loss of more than NT$11.1 billion (US$382 million).

“When most countries are setting up a firewall to protect their own agricultural products from the impact of globalization, Taiwan’s government is doing the opposite,” DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) told a press conference.

Legislator echoes worries of China in telecoms sector

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) yesterday cited a US congressional report on China’s Huawei Technologies (華為技術) and ZTE Inc (中興通訊) and warned that allowing Chinese investment in the telecommunication sector could pose serious threats to national security.

“Despite a US congressional panel warning on Huawei and ZTE’s security threat, Taiwan is considering opening Type I telecommunications enterprises to Chinese investment. We strongly oppose that,” Hsu told a press conference.

Press conference scuppers TIFA talks, source says

BAD TIMING?A former government official says Yaung Chih-liang’s event disrupted plans to set the ractopamine dispute aside and move on with the talks
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The US had planned to resume the stalled Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) negotiations with Taiwan last year despite disputes over US beef imports, but ended up dropping the plan after Taiwan made ractopamine-laced US beef a hot-button issue, sources said.

Former Department of Health minister Yaung Chih-liang’s (楊志良) hastily called press conference on Jan. 14 last year, during which he announced that ractopamine traces had been detected in imported US beef, “spoiled the US plan to set aside the ractopamine dispute and move on with the resumption of TIFA talks,” a former government official, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the Taipei Times.

Lawmaker pans Cabinet amendment to food act

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Executive Yuan’s proposed amendment to the food safety law is “ridiculous” and may be questioned in the WTO, a lawmaker said yesterday.

The Cabinet’s proposed change to the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) to ease restrictions on the entry of US beef could be tantamount to the government shooting itself in the foot, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) told a press conference.

Taiwan to seek active role in WTO this year: representative

Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) Taiwan will seek to play a more active role in the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year, Taiwan's WTO representative was quoted as saying in an interview.

Lin Yi-fu spoke about a wide range of topics, including the long-stalled Doha round of trade talks, Taiwan's plans ahead of the 10th anniversary of its WTO accession in 2012 and Taiwan's relations with China, in an interview with the WTO Center under the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), a Taipei-based think tank.

The interview published Friday on the institute's website quoted Lin as saying that he believed the Doha round of negotiations will be completed this year.

Taiwan acceded to the WTO on Jan. 1, 2002 under the name Permanent Mission of the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen. The WTO, which currently has 153 members, generally refers to Taiwan as Chinese Taipei.

In the interview, Lin said Taiwan intended to actively participate in multilateral trade negotiations and various committees under the WTO, adding that Taiwan's delegation will seek to chair committees to boost its active participation this year.

In 2010, Lin said, delegation counselor Fang Rui-song served as chairperson of the Committee on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, a subsidiary body of the Council for Trade in Goods.

Taiwan will also seek to play more of a leading role in several negotiating groups it has joined, such as the Recently Acceded Members (RAMs) - countries that negotiated and joined the WTO after 1995 which seeks lesser commitments in the negotiations, and Friends of A-D Negotiations (FANs) , a coalition of countries lobbying for agriculture to be treated as diverse and special, because of non-trade concerns, Lin was quoted as saying.

He also said Taiwan should try to solve trade disputes through the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism more often.

A majority of the WTO members as well as WTO Secretary-General Pascal Lamy welcomed the historic free trade pact, formally known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, signed between Taiwan and China last June, Lin said.

Member economies also paid attention to items on the agreement's "early harvest" list, the timetable of further opening of products, and whether and when the notification will be submitted to the WTO, Lin was quoted as saying.

The Doha round of negotiations, which broke down in 2008, is expected to pick up pace again after leaders expressed strong "political will" to resume and complete the talks in the G-20 and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forums, according to Lin.

Lin said he was optimistic about the progress of the talks and believed the negotiations will be completed this year. If not, he said, the earliest date for the talks to be completed will possibly be 2013 because the United States will hold its presidential election in 2012. (By Chris Wang) enditem/cs

EU mulling measures against Taiwan over wine prices: envoy

Taipei, Sept. 16 (CNA) The European Union's (EU's) top representative in Taiwan said that the EU was reviewing options against what it called a violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations by Taiwan after rice wine sold for about half its previous price in local shops on Thursday.

"We regret that not enough time was given to allow advance consultation with Taiwan's main trading partners about the change, which we think is not in conformity with Taiwan's obligations, " Guy Ledoux, head of the European Economic and Trade Office, said in an e-mail.

He was referring to the Legislative Yuan's passage of an amendment last month to reclassify rice wine as a cooking ingredient rather than an alcoholic drink.

As a cooking ingredient, the wine is taxed at a much lower rate than alcoholic beverages, enabling the red wine made by the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp. to go on the market Thursday at NT$27 per 0.6 liter bottle, compared with the previous price of NT$50.

"We are completing our legal analysis of the tax reform in light of Taiwan's WTO obligations, " Ledoux added. "Once we have been able to evaluate the changes and their implications fully, we will take the matter up again with the authorities of Taiwan and review our options to see how best to take the matter forward."

The EU and the United States have expressed concern about the new classification, saying that the WTO does not accept the idea of different treatment for domestic and imported products.

The Taiwan government has said it will continue to communicate with the WTO, the U.S. and the EU about the issue.

(By Chris Wang)

enditem/bc

U.S., EU observing Taiwan's move on rice wine tax cuts

Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) The representative offices in Taiwan of the United States and the European Union (EU) both took a wait-and-see approach Thursday to an imminent amendment of a law that would lower the tax on rice wine, which both parties consider a violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations.

The Executive Yuan passed a draft amendment to the Tobacco and Alcohol Tax Law last month to adjust the tax on rice wine by moving it from the distilled spirit category to the cooking wine category. The amendment was expected to clear the Legislative Yuan late Thursday.

"We will carefully look at new laws or amendments that may conflict with the WTO obligations of members, particularly any changes that will treat domestic products more favorably than imported ones. We expect WTO members to act in accordance with their WTO commitments, " said Sheila Paskman, a spokeswoman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

The European Economic and Trade Office said meanwhile that it will let the EU Parliament in Brussels handle the EU's official response.

Under the draft amendment, the tax on a 0.6-liter bottle of rice wine will be reduced from NT$29.25 (US$0.93) to NT$5.4 and the price of a bottle of rice wine will be cut to NT$25 from NT$50. The price adjustment has sparked questions in the U.S. and the EU as to whether it violates the regulations of the WTO, of which Taiwan is a member.

Citing public opinion surveys, the government has argued that 96.4 percent of the population use rice wine solely for cooking rather than drinking, in an effort to convince the U.S., the EU and other WTO members that lowering rice wine prices will not have an impact on other types of alcohol.

Both the U.S. and the EU -- the main producers of brandy and whisky -- fear that once the price of the kitchen staple is lowered, sales of whisky, brandy and other varieties of alcohol will be affected. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J