President Ma reiterates hope to join TPP and RCEP

China Post | June 27, 2013

President Ma reiterates hope to join TPP and RCEP

By Adam Tyrsett Kuo, The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Ma Ying-jeou yesterday reiterated the administration’s hope to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), in order to allow Taiwan to effectively take part in regional economic integration.

Ma made the above comments during a meeting with members of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) at the Presidential Office.

The Republic of China is a nation that cherishes peace and has consistently proposed solving international disputes through peaceful means, the president said, adding that the East China Sea Peace Initiative proposed in August 2012 is an implementation of this principle.

Ma thanked various members of the European Parliament for their support, stressing that the R.O.C. will continue to solve its disputes through peaceful means.

The East China Sea Peace Initiative is not an empty theory, the president said, adding that after the initiative was proposed, Taiwan and Japan were able to ink a fishery pact in the following year, solving a dispute that ran back four decades.

Taiwan and mainland China signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement three years ago, and the two sides recently also inked a trade in services pact, the president said.

Taiwan should be able to begin similar talks with Singapore and New Zealand as well as other nations, Ma added.

Furthermore, Taiwan has also begun trade-related talks with the U.S., the president said, reiterating the administration’s wish to join the TPP and RCEP.

The Republic of China also hopes to strengthen trade relations with the EU, Ma said, adding that the government and the EU have already conducted research into the feasibility and effect of a bilateral economic cooperation agreement.

The president went on to say that he hopes the two sides can begin actual trade-related talks in the near future.

Members of the ECR presented a document to the president, showing support for the R.O.C. amid its spat with the Philippines over the fishing boat shooting incident which took place in May.

source : China Post

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