Industry tycoon endorses Taiwan-China trade pact plan
e-Taiwan News
Industry tycoon endorses Taiwan-China trade pact plan
Central News Agency
7 March 2009
TSMC Chairman Morris Chang endorsed the government’s plan to sign free trade pacts with Taiwan’s major trading partners, saying Saturday that it would not be "too late" to sign a proposed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China by the end of this year.
Chang made the remarks to reporters after giving a keynote speech at a public policy forum at National Chengchi University.
Chang said he supports the government’s goal to clinch free trade agreements with Taiwan’s prime trading partners, and it is important to provide a clear explanation of the proposed ECFA with China so that the public can gain a proper understanding of the issue.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan pledged a day earlier at a Legislative Yuan session that Taiwan’s independent sovereignty will not be compromised by the signing of an ECFA with China.
He also repeated a promise that the proposed agreement would not allow Chinese workers into Taiwan and would not open Taiwan’s market any wider to China’s agricultural products.
In response to fierce criticism from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union over the proposed ECFA with China, the government has repeatedly said that a trade agreement with China is vital to Taiwan to maintain its economic competitiveness in the world market and avoid magionalization when China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) form a free trade bloc in 2010.
TSMC is the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry.
