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Mainland, Taiwan weigh up benefits of economic pact
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-16 10:07
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On the island, authorities have intensified promotion of the ECFA.
Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou has said on several occasions that signing the ECFA was "absolutely necessary."
Ma said signing the agreement would help Taiwan people do business and boost the island's competitiveness. "The mainland is Taiwan's biggest trade partner, and that is why we must sign the ECFA," he said in Taipei early last month.
He admitted that the agreement would affect Taiwan's uncompetitive industries, but it would push Taiwan to structurally adjust its economy.
Taiwan's economic authorities have decided to allocate 95 billion New Taiwan dollars ($3 billion) over 10 years to help those businesses hurt by the agreement.
Zhang said Taiwan authorities were active in promoting the ECFA mainly because they did not want to be marginalized in Asia's regional economic cooperation and integration.
Another reason was that Taiwan hoped to get a lift from the mainland's fast-growing economy to overcome its own difficulties, Zhang said.
But there were also voices on the island against the ECFA, said Cao Xiaoheng, director of the Taiwan Economic Research Institute in Nankai University.
Lee Rie-ho said doubts do exist among some employed in Taiwan's agriculture, but the benefits of the ECFA outweighed the harm. "People in Taiwan cannot limit themselves to the island anymore."
Wang Jing, president of the Newland Group, the first mainland company allowed to invest in Taiwan in late 2009, said economic complementation across the Strait was "very necessary."
Taiwan's experiences in industrialization could help mainland companies more efficiently market their products in the global business arena, Wang said.
