. | . |
Taiwan, China expect to sign trade pact next week: source Taipei (AFP) June 23, 2010 Taiwan and China are expected to sign a major trade pact when their top envoys meet on the mainland next week, a source said Wednesday. Taiwan's top negotiator Chiang Pin-kung will seal the deal with his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin in the city of Chongqing in southwest China from June 28 to 30, a well-placed source told AFP. This will be the fifth meeting between the two since Taiwan's Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008 vowing to boost ties with China during his four-year term. The two sides have been struggling to meet a June deadline for signing the pact, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, which will mainly cover a list of industries that will benefit from preferential tariffs. Senior officials from both sides are expected to finalise the list when they meet on Thursday in Taipei for preparatory talks to ready the agreement for signing, said Maa Shaw-chang, a spokesman for Taiwan's semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation. "Things are going on as planned following our previous negotiations," Maa said, dismissing criticism that the two sides are rushing into the deal. Zheng Lizhong, vice president of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, flew to the island on Wednesday to lead the Chinese side in the discussions set to start Thursday at 0100 GMT, the foundation said. A media briefing is scheduled for 0830 GMT following the talks, it said. The two sides use semi-official bodies to negotiate with each other in the absence of formal relations. About 530 industrial items from Taiwan are expected to be allowed preferential tariffs as part of the deal, Taiwan's United Evening News said, citing unnamed sources. The items will cover industries ranging from petrochemical and textiles to machinery and car parts worth some 13.6 billion US dollars, the report said. Beijing meanwhile will demand about 270 Chinese items worth some three billion US dollars be placed on the early harvest list, it said. Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government has been pushing for the pact, saying it will boost growth and employment. But opponents argue that stronger competition from China will cost jobs and the accord will make the island more dependent on the mainland. Taiwan's main opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which favours independence from the mainland, has vowed to rally 100,000 people on Saturday to protest against the pact. "The government is doing whatever it can to meet the self-imposed deadline and we have to wonder why is it in such a hurry to sign the pact," asked DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen in a statement. "We have to guess that this is a deadline set up for Ma's re-election. This is not a deadline approved by the public." Tsai demanded that the government allow the public to decided whether to sign the pact via a referendum. Taiwan and China have been governed separately since a civil war ended in 1949, but Beijing considers the island part of its territory and has vowed to get it back, by force if necessary.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Global Trade News
'Tweeting' Medvedev tours Silicon Valley San Francisco (AFP) June 23, 2010 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev fired off his first "tweet" on Wednesday as he toured the headquarters of Twitter and other Internet stars on a mission to create a Moscow version of Silicon Valley. Besides Twitter, the Russian leader also paid a visit to the offices of popular gadget maker Apple and secured a commitment from US networking giant Cisco that it would invest one billion dollar ... read more |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |