A senior official says Taiwan and China hope to conclude an agreement allowing for the liberalization of merchandise trade by the end of this year.
Deputy director-general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade, David Hsu, made the comments on Friday. He said both sides are currently working on clarifying technical terms in the pact. He also said the two sides have reached a consensus that progress needs to be made on the deal. He said the hope is the pact could be finalized by the end of this year.
Hsu had just led a delegation that wrapped up pre-negotiation talks two days ago with the Chinese. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged ideas on technical issues relating to the definitions of four major industrial sectors—petrochemicals, LED display, automobiles, and machine tools. They also worked on developing a list of products to be given preferential tariff treatment.