President Ma Ying-jeou is calling on the legislature to pass the bill monitoring cross-strait agreements. That’s in light of the news of the consensus reached between South Korea and China for a free trade agreement (FTA). Ma was speaking on the 68th celebration of Industry Day on Tuesday.
Ma said that with the upcoming FTA, 62.66% of South Korea’s trade will be covered by free trade agreements. That’s far more than Taiwan’s 9.68%.
"Everyone knows that South Korea is our main trade rival. Competition is fierce as 70% of our exports overlap with South Korea’s. The competition is especially intense in the China market. Now that they will sign an FTA, perhaps by early next year, it will have an immediate impact, so we need to catch up as soon as possible," said Ma.
Due to the signing of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), Taiwan has saved US$1.85 billion in tariffs so far. Ma said this shows the business opportunities that lower tariffs bring.
The cross-strait trade in services agreement signed in June 2013 has not been approved yet. The president said the cross-strait monitoring bill was blocked dozens of times by the opposition party. He said no matter what party is in office, it should be pragmatic and not work against the interests of Taiwan.