President Ma Ying-jeou is calling for the speedy passage of the cross-strait trade in services agreement that Taiwan signed with China in June 2013. Ma was speaking Tuesday at the opening ceremony of this year’s Computex Taipei trade show.
The president’s comments come a day after China inked a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea, Taiwan’s major trade rival.
The trade in services agreement has been stalled in the legislature due to concerns over its potential negative impact on Taiwan’s economy. But Ma said that Taiwan can’t wait any longer to approve the agreement.
“That’s because only 10% of our products are covered by the FTA as compared with more than 30% of Korean products," said Ma.
"The figure could be higher if the FTA takes effect at the end of this year. Needless to say, it is a big warning about Taiwan’s competitiveness. I hope we can face this predicament honestly and find a way out since exports are Taiwan’s lifeline.”
The president said that the FTA will affect exports of Taiwanese textiles, machinery and machine tools. That’s despite the fact that information and communication technology (ICT) products are protected by the Information Technology Agreement (ITA).