The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei is calling on Taiwan to push forward with regulatory reforms as it prepares its bid to join the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The call came in the 2015 Taiwan White Paper, which AmCham released on Thursday. The TPP is a multilateral free trade agreement currently being negotiated among a dozen Pacific Rim countries.
With the first round of TPP negotiations drawing to a close, AmCham Chairman Thomas Fann said Thursday that Taiwan’s regulations are still far from the global standards needed to apply. He said that Taiwan must show its determination when it comes to trade liberalization and adherence to international norms. He said the government should set up a task force to oversee the reform process.
“If you really want to push the reforms, you must establish an authoritative task force," said Fann.
"And it must be a high ranking task force. We recommend that the government set up a task force directly under the Cabinet to push forward with reforms, because it is not just a cross-departmental issue, but one that requires a lot of authority to make things happen.”
Fann said that Taiwan must also work to resolve any trade disputes with the existing 12 TPP negotiating countries before it can join the TPP.