SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2003
China proposes free trade deal with Taiwan
PTI
BEIJING: Close on the heels of signing a free trade deal with Hong Kong, China, for the first time, has formally proposed a similar pact with Taiwan. A pact between mainland China and Taiwan, similar to a free trade agreement, would ensure healthy and orderly development of economic ties, Wang Zaixi, deputy director of Taiwan Affairs office in the Chinese state council said on Friday.
"Both sides of the Taiwan straits could initially carry out joint research into the tourism and civil aviation industries which have been hit hard by the outbreak of SARS," Wang suggested during a seminar on cross-straits relations held in the south-western province of Yunnan, China Daily reported.
This is the first time Beijing has officially proposed strengthening cross-straits economic exchanges in such a way, the newspaper said. Taiwan had not shown interest in furthering economic ties between the two sides. Beijing's new proposal comes in the wake of a landmark free trade deal between the mainland and Hong Kong last month.
Under the closer economic partnership arrangement (CEPA) with Hong Kong, products from the island would be exempt from tariffs on the mainland and 17 service sectors will gain wider access to the mainland. Wang said both Beijing and Taipei should give top priority to bilateral economic and trade relations.
"To that end, any hurdles to cross-straits economic co-operation should be removed," he said, adding "any political dispute that interferes with and affects bilateral economic and trade exchanges should be left aside and gradually resolved."
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