Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang says Taiwan and China are expected to reach a pact on a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) in June 2010.
A second round of talks is due to start this week in Taiwan, according to FocusTaiwan News Channel.
The channel says, negotiations will focus on items in the machinery, upstream and midstream textile, petroleum and transport manufacturing sectors, which are among the 500 items Taiwan has put on its “early harvest” list for immediate tariff easing or lifting upon the signing of the cross-strait trade pact.
Taiwan is eager to talk about items that are either on the zero-tariff list of the free trade agreement between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), or that are major exports of Taiwan.
Taiwan’s exports of those items to China are facing strong competition from ASEAN exporters and it is much more urgent to have them secured on the ECFA’s early-harvest list than other items, Shih was quoted by the channel as saying.
