WTO likely to bolster Taiwan-China ties

WTO likely to bolster Taiwan-China ties

TAIPEI (AFP): The accession of Taiwan and China to the World Trade Organization, probably later this year, would bring the two rivals closer together, Taiwan's Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Ruey-long said Monday.

WTO could be "a forum for both sides to sit down to discuss what would be the best way to improve economic and trade relations between the two sides ... (and) eventually lead to peaceful settlement," he told foreign journalists in Taipei.

"If there is enough goodwill from the People's Republic of China (PRC) towards my country, we are willing to develop closer trade relations in the light of WTO principles," he said in a panel discussion.

"WTO would provide a good channel for the future of the two sides in both economic and political terms," said Cho Hui-wan, an academic at the National Chung Hsing University.

Taipei-China economic integration could lead to political integration, Cho told foreign reporters here, adding that Taiwan cannot ignore the huge market in China.

Taiwan's exports to China were expected to grow about 20 percent, while imports from China would grow more than 20 percent after Taiwan and China open direct trade relations, according to Chen.

Cross-strait commerce in the seven months to July rose 30.9 percent from a year earlier to US$18.38 billion.

Chen said Taiwan was expected to be admitted into the world body at the end of this year after China's accession.

"It has been more than 10 years. It's about time it (the procedure) is completed."

Taiwan has completed trade talks with 26 WTO contracting parties and has signed trade accords with all of them, except Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.

China, which has regarded Taiwan as part of its territory since a bitter civil war in 1949, has insisted the island must not enter the WTO before it does.

"PRC has become more and more important. It is our number two market, next to the US," Chen said, adding that some 40 percent of Taiwan's overseas investment was based in the mainland.

Taiwan's China-bound investment has more than doubled from a year ago to $1.61 billion in the eight months to August, spurred by China's forthcoming WTO accession.

China-bound investment began to burgeon after the authorities eased restrictions in 1987, although Taipei bans any single mainland-bound investment project over $50 million, as well as Taiwanese hi-tech and infrastructure projects there.

It is estimated that local entrepreneurs have invested more than $40 billion in China, with or without government approval.