President Ma Ying-jeou said the government will work to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) within two years. Ma made the remarks on Friday.
Ma emphasized the importance of joining the two regional economic partnerships.
"Together, the TPP and RCEP include 28 countries. If we don’t count the seven countries that are members of both groups, the two partnerships account for 70% of our total trade," Ma said. "Think about it. This is a number we totally can’t ignore. We, as a small and open economy, rely on foreign trade for 70% of our GDP growth. We have to join these partnerships now. Otherwise, it will be difficult for Taiwan to keep a foothold in the region or in the world. I will push for the country’s participation in the two partnerships in two years."
Ma said that economic partnership agreements signed with Singapore and New Zealand show that Taiwan is capable of joining high quality free trade agreements.