Ma's call for EU-Taiwan talks on economic cooperation wins support - Hoofdinhoud
President Ma Ying-jeou received support from a visiting European Parliament member Friday for his call for the European Union to begin negotiations on economic cooperation with Taiwan as soon as possible.
Taiwan has already engaged in economic and trade talks with its three largest trading partners -- China, Japan and the United States -- but has yet to do so with Europe, Ma said in a meeting at the Presidential Office with Hans van Baalen, vice chairman of the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group.
Ma suggested that Taiwan and the European Union begin their own studies on the feasibility of forming closer trade ties before deciding on an appropriate occasion to study the issue together. Once such preparations are completed, the two sides can begin talks on an economic cooperation agreement at any time, he said.
The proposal was welcomed by Van Baalen, a Dutch politician who is also the president of Liberal International, a world federation of more than 100 bilateral and progressive democratic political parties. Van Baalen said he recently suggested in Japan that it sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU, following an FTA reached by the EU and South Korea, and he agreed that the EU should now look toward forging economic cooperation relations with Taiwan, he said.
Van Baalen also urged Taiwan to develop closer ties with countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia while maintaining warm relations with China. Taiwan's economy was also discussed during the 35-minute meeting. Asked by van Baalen about his economic policies, Ma acknowledged that Taiwan has faced severe economic challenges over the past year.
Taiwan's economic growth for 2012 was recently forecast at 1.05 percent, which would be the lowest since 2009, and exports are likely to post negative growth for the year as a whole, Ma said. Faced with these challenges, the government has proposed a number of stimulus measures, including increasing trade with emerging markets and Islamic countries, the president said.
His administration is also trying to change the nature of Taiwan's economic cooperation with China to enable goods made in Taiwan to be more effectively sold in the mainland, he said. Ma also pointed to efforts to sign economic cooperation accords with Singapore and New Zealand that will accelerate Taiwan's economic liberalization, which he believes will integrate the country into the global trade system more quickly. "Bad economic conditions can be an opportunity that allows a government to review old policies and propose new ones, turning a crisis into a turning point," Ma said.
(By Kelven Huang and Elizabeth Hsu)