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.