President Ma Ying-jeou is reiterating that the trade in services agreement with China is beneficial to Taiwan.
Ma made the comments on Thursday while receiving a delegation from the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce. Taiwan signed the agreement with China last June, but the pact has yet to be approved by the legislature. An attempt by ruling party lawmakers to pass a first reading of the agreement without close review led to the student occupation of the legislature. Critics of the agreement fear that it will give China too much influence over Taiwan.
President Ma said many jobs have been created since his administration lifted a ban on Chinese investments. He also said that the vast Chinese market will be a land of opportunities for Taiwanese businesses.
"Taiwan is a small and open economy, and further opening up is the only way to go. 70% of our economic growth comes from external trade," said Ma.
"That figure is higher than that for South Korea and Japan; only Singapore has a higher [reliance on trade]. If we don’t trade with other people, our economy will only shrink. Whoever leads the government has to go down this path," he said.
In response to concerns that the trade in services agreement with China will compromise national security, Ma said the government has measures in place to prevent China from taking control. He said for example, Chinese companies are not eligible to bid for public works projects.
Ma also said that failure to approve the agreement will have a great impact on Taiwan. He said if the opposition Democratic Progressive Party does not agree with the agreement, it can launch a motion to amend it and up the proposal to vote. Ma said disagreement should be resolved in a democratic and peaceful way.