A former senior mainland negotiator with Taiwan on Tuesday urged
Taipei to further ease its stringent mainland-trade policy in a bid
to strengthen cross-Straits economic ties following the island's
entry into the
World Trade
Organization (WTO).
Tang Shubei -- former executive vice-president of the Association
for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits -- also warned against
Taipei's attempt to internationalize the Taiwan question by taking
advantage of its entry into the WTO, which took effect on January
1.
He
said: "Whether both sides of the Taiwan Straits can seize the
opportunity arising from their WTO membership largely depends on
how soon and to what degree the Taiwan authorities will adjust
their existing management mechanism for mainland trade."
Tang made the remarks at a Beijing seminar entitled "The WTO and
Cross-Straits Economic and Trade Ties," sponsored by the
Beijing-based Cross-Straits Relations monthly magazine and the Hong
Kong-based Straits Monthly.
Twelve experts and scholars from Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan and
Tianjin, along with dozens of officials from central government
departments attended the one-day event.
Tang said that, while the mainland market has opened up widely to
investment and products from the island, Taiwan still exerts
unreasonable limits over investment and products from the mainland,
which does not conform to WTO rules.
Taipei currently forbids Taiwanese investment in the production of
eight-inch integrated circuits and some upper-stream petrochemical
products on the mainland.
In
addition, more than 3,500 agricultural and industrial products from
the mainland are still banned from being imported although, on
January 1, Taipei lifted a ban on another 700 mainland agricultural
and industrial items.
In
stark contrast with Beijing's approval of more than 50,000
Taiwanese-funded projects on the mainland so far, no mainland firm
has been given the green light to invest on the island.
Furthermore, Taiwan authorities have hinted at only a partial and
slow opening of the Taiwan market to the mainland instead of making
an all-round and wide-ranging adjustment to its present
mainland-trade management mechanism in line with WTO rules, Tang
said.
He
added that such a move "will eventually affect Taiwan's industrial
restructuring and economic development as well as the common
prosperity of both sides."
Lu
Xiaoyan, assistant director of the Shanghai Research Institute of
Taiwan Studies, accused the Taiwan authorities of "excessively
politicizing" the Cross-Straits economic issue by citing security
reasons for blocking mainland investment and products.
"Taipei has inappropriately magnified the security issue to hold on
to its mainland trade policy, which goes against WTO rules," Lu
said.
As
for the alleged plan by the Taiwan authorities to discuss
Cross-Straits economic and trade affairs under the WTO framework,
Tang said the mainland strongly opposes any attempt to use an
international organization to discuss one country's internal
affairs.
Taipei's attempt to internationalize the Taiwan question "will
achieve nothing other than bringing more trouble to the WTO and all
its members and causing them to misunderstand the nature of the
Taiwan authorities," Tang said.
He
expressed his hope that Taipei would accept the mainland's proposal
that Cross-Straits economic and trade exchanges should be handled
as the internal affairs of one country.
Under such a condition, these affairs including the establishment
of the three links -- direct trade, transport and postal links
between Taiwan and the mainland -- may be solved through
people-to-people, industry-to-industry and company-to-company
consultation, Tang said.
Taiwan became the 144th member of the WTO on January 1, under the
title of the "separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen
and Matsu" -- or "Chinese Taipei" for short.
The Chinese mainland became the 143rd member on December 11.
(China
Daily January 9, 2002)