May 21, 2010
Taipei, May 20, 2010 (CENS)--In contrary to widespread expectation, petrochemical and machinery may be excluded from the early-harvest list, or priority items for tariff cut or market opening, for cross-Taiwan Strait Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECFA), according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN), sister publication of Taiwan Economic News (TEN).
Preliminary version of the early-harvest list was agreed by representatives of the two sides during the latest working-level talk for the agreement in Taipei, which was closed yesterday (May 19). The preliminary list still contains some 300 items, which, however, doesn`t include machinery and petrochemical, with the exception of PP (polypropylene).
During an ECFA seminar yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih specifically pointed to the case of PP, saying that without cut on the existing 6.5% tariff, Taiwanese PP makers will have a tough time competing with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) makers, especially those in Singapore, which have begun enjoying free tariff in the Chinese market, after the "ASEAN plus one" agreement took effect on Jan. 1. ASEAN now ships US$6.4 billion of PP to China a year, compared with Taiwan`s shipment of US$5.5 billion. The remark seems to hint at the inclusion of PP in the early-harvest list.
Delegations from both sides for the latest working-level talk were headed by Tang Wei, director of the Department of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao Affairs, China`s Ministry of Commerce, and Huang Chih-peng, director general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade, the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
During the talks, both sides reached a general consensus on the items and ratios of values for the early-harvest list and narrowed differences on some issues, such as specification of a deadline for market opening or not.
(by Philip Liu)
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