Economics Minister John Deng says Taiwan does not have enough bargaining chips when it comes to negotiating a trade in goods agreement with China.
He was responding on Monday to questions from the media about whether the government will hold negotiations with China before May 20, when the current administration steps down.
“The difficult part is that we do not enough [flexibility] which could [in turn] enable China to make concessions. The number of items that we can open up to Chinese [imports] is very, very few, especially when it comes to agricultural [products]," said Deng.
China’s commerce ministry has said that the talks on the Cross-Strait Goods Trade Agreement are not only an economic issue, but also a political one, as it involves sovereignty.
Deng said both political and economic factors are taken into consideration during international trade talks.
However, Deng declined to comment on remarks made by former Secretary-General of the National Security Council, Su Chi, on Sunday.
Su said the chances of holding trade talks with China before May 20th are slim. President-elect Tsai Ing-wen is set to take office on that day. Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party is considered less friendly to China than the current Kuomintang (KMT) government.