Vice Premier Chang San-cheng says the incoming DPP government will play a vital role in determining whether negotiations on a cross-strait trade in goods agreement will be able to continue. Chang was speaking to a local radio station on Friday.
Chang said the KMT government has done its best to secure Taiwan’s interests during previous talks with China. He said Taiwan has actually received a better deal than South Korea did under its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China.
The DPP, under the leadership of president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, is set to take power on May 20th.
China is concerned that the incoming DPP government might not endorse deals reached earlier. Chang said the DPP’s attitude will be critical to future talks. He said there are two scenarios that may play out before the end of May.
"One is that there is no progress. The other scenario is that there is progress, but no agreements are signed," said Chang.
"The chance that an agreement will be signed, however, is very, very slim. Only by recognizing that our current efforts have not sold out Taiwan and that the efforts have not been wasted will there be an opportunity to continue [trade talks] with China.”