500 items on ECFA "Early Harvest" list
Radio Taiwan International
500 items on ECFA "Early Harvest" list
18 November 2009
The government has earmarked close to five hundred items for inclusion on an "Early Harvest" list in an economic agreement with China, according to Economics Minister Shih Yen-shiang on Wednesday.
These include some of the sectors considered most vulnerable if Taiwanese markets are opened to Chinese competition under an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). Shih said key among these were petrochemicals, textiles, machine tools and automobiles.
Shih also said that an agreement with China would need to be ratified by Taiwan’s Legislature.
"The ECFA is a kind of Free Trade Agreement (FTA)," said Shih. "Taiwan already holds FTAs with five countries – with Panama and four other countries in Central America. They are all countries with whom our total trade is relatively small. In terms of procedure, after the FTA is signed by both sides, it is then sent to be approved by the Legislature before it can go into effect. It will be essentially the same with the ECFA – it will be signed by both sides in an initial form and then sent on to the Legislature."
