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Taiwan Not Ready Yet to Lift Bans for Direct Links
Taiwan authorities are not prepared to lift their ban on direct links with the Chinese mainland even after accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
"We are carefully examining whether WTO rules are applicable to cross-strait direct trade links,''said Wayne W Wu, director general of the Taiwan's "board of foreign trade of the ministry of economic affairs.'' Wednesday in Beijing.
He dismissed direct postal, communication and transport links with the Chinese mainland as irrelevant to WTO rules.
Wu spoke at a symposium on trade and economic co-operation between the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Organized by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong, the symposium held its sixth session yesterday and today.
The Chinese mainland and Taiwan are expected to become WTO members in succession at the end of this year or the start of next year.
Taiwan investment in the Chinese mainland is expected to jump after the two sides enter the WTO, said Liu Yingxian, director of the economic affairs office of the School of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Science and technology industries and financial services are likely hot spots for Taiwan investment.
She warned that it would harm cross-strait trade and economic co-operation if Taiwan authorities continue to hold off direct links with the Chinese mainland after their WTO accession.
"It would be a great loss for businesses from both Taiwan and the Chinese mainland,'' she said.
At present, cross-strait trade, communication and transport are mostly conducted through Hong Kong.
If 30 per cent of present cross-strait trade, communication and transport are no longer conducted through Hong Kong after the ban is lifted, Hong Kong will lose about 2 per cent of its sea transportation, said Liang Haiguo, chief economist of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. [Source: chinadaily.com.cn]
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