Officials from Taiwan and China are preparing for a 13th round of talks on the cross-strait trade in goods agreement. Economics Minister John Deng spoke about progress on the talks during a meeting of the ruling KMT on Wednesday.
Deng said that many companies have asked the government to move forward with the agreement and to negotiate more benefits for Taiwan.
"The corporate world has been asking us to make progress on this as soon as possible," said Deng. "The sooner there is an agreement, the earlier they can make plans. We hope to provide a good environment so that industry will want to stay in Taiwan."
Deng also addressed concerns about a potential opening up of Taiwan to imports of banned Chinese agricultural products. Deng said that this issue is still under discussion, and that the government will look out for the rights of local farmers.
"Our agricultural products are competitive on the Chinese market," said Deng. "How can we keep our edge? We’ve also discovered that there are [restricted] products that are not grown in Taiwan. If there are no food safety issues and we can exchange [letting these items in] for a larger market, why do we limit ourselves and not open up?"
Deng said that any agreement will be sent to the legislature for approval.