THE Taiwanese government is continuing its push for a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the Philippines as it recognizes the need to further expand their export market.
Mainland Affairs Council The Executive Yuan First Deputy Minister Chu Chia Steve Lin, PhD, said they are not breaking the One China Policy by signing FTAs with other countries.
“We are a World Trade Organization member and we are entitled to sign agreements. We are telling China these are just pure trade issues. We are persuading them that this is not about having a Two China Policy,” Lin said.
He added: “We need the international export market. We have signed FTAs with New Zealand and Singapore. There are also ongoing talks for inclusion in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership.”
Taiwan currently counts China as its main export market with a 40-percent share, followed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), 15 percent; the United States, 11 percent; and the European Union, 9 percent. Lin said that within the Asean region, their biggest markets are Singapore and Malaysia, with the Philippines stacked in the middle.
In 2014 trade between the Philippines and Taiwan was at $11.60 billion with exports to the country reaching $9.50 billion. For the first five months of the year, Taiwan exports to the Philippines reached $3.10 billion, while Philippine exports were at $768 million.
Last August, Taiwan’s former Vice President Annette Lu, together with the World Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce, visited the country to urge the Philippine government to establish a FTA with Taiwan.
“Everyone should watch what is happening with the Chinese economy. Their economy will slow down. They cannot keep growing at 7 percent,” Lin said.
Taiwan’s annual export to China is currently at $125 billion, while import is at $50 billion, or 18 percent of their total.
Lin said that over the past seven years, Taiwan has signed 23 agreements with China that has built mutual trust between the two sides.
Among the agreements they have signed with China include those for an economic cooperation framework, investment protection, service trade, commodity trade, judicial help and dispute settlement.
Direct flights are also now available between Taiwan and China, resulting in 3.90 million Chinese tourist arrivals and 27,000 exchange students annually.
The Taiwanese economy is being projected to slow down this year to 1.56 gross domestic product after experiencing moderate growth over the last three years.
(Note: Over the next three weeks, BusinessMirror will be running exclusive stories involving Taiwan-Philippine relations.)