Trade pact with China a potential threat to Taiwan's agriculture

The first negotiation across the strait on Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) is scheduled on Tuesday (Jan 26) in Beijing and there is anxiety that Taiwan's agricultural industry may be affected.

 

Taiwan agriculture will not survive the impact resulting from the import of Chinese agriculture products, Chiou Jiunn-rong, vice dean of the School of Management at National Central University said.

 

The concern is that lifting the limit on importing Chinese agriculture products will lead to unprecedented disaster in Taiwan's agriculture and broaden the domestic gap between the rich and poor.

 

Agriculture is a labour-intensive industry, and with the great discrepancy in production cost, it is foreseeable that the import of Chinese products will seriously damage Taiwan's development in agriculture and endanger related jobs, Chiou said.

 

Taiwan President Ma's administration has promised not to relax the regulations on importing Chinese agriculture products.

 

Meanwhile, the ECFA research summary released by Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation indicated that Taiwan's restricting the import of a total of 2,194 kinds of products from China is a violation of Taiwan's promises when joining the World Trade Organization.