A 13-member Taiwanese delegation, headed by Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Vice Chairman Kao Koong-lian, departed for Beijing Monday in preparation for talks on a proposed cross-Taiwan Strait free trade pact.
Kao said prior to his departure that the delegation will seek to secure the best possible benefits
for Taiwan in the first round of talks with its Chinese counterpart on the proposed economic
cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) that will kick off in Beijing Tuesday.
He gave the assurance that the ECFA talks will not lead to the entry of any Chinese farm produce
that is not on the existing import list and will not touch on the issue of opening Taiwan's job
market to Chinese workers.
The ECFA is an all-encompassing treaty that would cover tariff reductions, market access and economic cooperation in areas like intellectual property rights enforcement. Taiwan also hopes that an ECFA deal with China will facilitate its bid to sign free trade tlks with its major trading partners, such as the United States, Japan and ASEAN member states.
The Taiwan delegation includes Huang Chih-peng, director-general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA); Lee Li-chen, chief of the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC's) Department of Economic Affairs; and other key MOEA, MAC and SEF officials.
The Chinese delegation will be led by Zheng Lizhong, vice president of Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS). (Sour: Pian Chin-feng and Sofia Wu, CNA, Jan 25, 2010).