To demonstrate the nation's resolve to participate in regional economic integration, the Executive Yuan, following the directive of President Ma Ying-jeou, has further expanded the organizational structure of the international economic and trade strategic alliance arrangement taskforce (IETSAAT) and shall periodically convene ad hoc meetings on joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) so as to monitor progress and complete all preparations for joining the TPP before this July.
President Ma was briefed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) today on plans to join the TPP and the RCEP, and he enjoined related government agencies to expediently complete the liberalization and adjustment measures required to join the TPP.
The trend toward global economic integration is obvious, Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch said at a press conference he convened at the Executive Yuan soon after the briefing. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the 12 nations currently in the TPP accounts for 38 percent of global GDP, he pointed out. In 2012, 35 percent of the ROC's trade was carried out with these states, while 57 percent was with the 16 members of the RCEP (including mainland China). Moreover, the ROC's chief competitor, South Korea, is already an RCEP member and is now striving to join the TPP.
Thus, the importance and urgency of joining these two regional economic partnerships go without saying, Chang remarked. Following assessments, the government has resolved to pursue TPP and RCEP membership at the same time, with priority placed on setting up an ad hoc task force on the TPP.
"Joining the TPP and other regional economic partnerships requires not only determination from the government but also the consensus of the private sector," Chang stressed. "Therefore, the MOEA has established a TPP taskforce under the IETSAAT which is scheduled to meet monthly. In addition, President Ma has asked former Vice President Vincent Siew to form a promotional alliance to facilitate smooth communication between the public and private sectors on this issue."
The administration will drum up both domestic and international support for this campaign, Chang said. To build consensus in Taiwan, it will communicate with the Legislative Yuan, industries, academia, media and general public.
On the global front, the IETSAAT has ordered relevant agencies to produce "fishing net" plans for communication with each and every TPP member nation's governmental agencies, industries, representative offices and chambers of commerce in Taiwan, and legislators. These breakthrough strategies will be pursued step-by-step, with the MOEA first making informal contacts with member states in conjunction with Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials stationed abroad and then engaging in relevant lobbying.
President Ma has directed that the first review meeting on satisfying the commitments of member states be held at the end of February. Agencies must take inventory of the relevant topics under their own jurisdictions, conduct SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analyses on them, and then submit concrete response plans by the end of July.
As the TPP includes both the United States and Japan, joining the pact would be tantamount to having free trade agreements with Taiwan's three biggest trading partners (the third is mainland China), Chang added. Over US$60 of every US$100 of the ROC's trade would then enjoy duty-free status or other privileges, increasing Taiwanese companies' competitiveness as they expand into overseas markets.