Taiwan is unlikely to conclude negotiations with China on a trade in goods agreement by the end of the year. That’s the word from economics minister Woody Duh on Wednesday in an interview with Radio Taiwan International.
Duh also said that chances the talks will conclude before China signs a free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea are low. Duh said once the China-South Korea FTA is in place, 20% of Taiwanese exports to China will be affected. In addition, Taiwan is expected to lose 5% of its market share in China to South Korea.
Duh said he hopes that Taiwan will move faster towards signing the trade in goods pact.
“If the conditions are not going to be better than [those obtained by South Korea], the Legislature will not be ready to endorse the deal," said Duh. "If they are better, we will work to persuade the Legislature to agree to the deal. We predict that we will not be able to conclude the talks by the end of the year. It will likely be later than the signing of the China-South Korea pact. But we hope that Taiwan-China talks will not be delayed too much after that to avoid our market being taken over. Otherwise it will be hard to get back our share.”
Negotiations were suspended after protests erupted in Taiwan in March over the trade in services pact Taipei and Beijing signed in 2013. Talks on the trade in services pact are set to resume later this month.