Taiwan, Singapore to Discuss Economic Cooperation Agreement

Aug. 6 – Officials from Taiwan and Singapore said on Thursday that a bilateral free trade type agreement is in the works and may be signed by the end of the year.

“We will negotiate with Singapore an economic cooperation deal under the World Trade Organization framework,” Lo Chih-Chiang, Taiwan’s presidential spokesman, said on Thursday. “We won’t necessarily use ‘free trade agreement’ for the deal’s title. The administrative departments will decide the official title of the deal after negotiations.”

This would be the first major trade deal inked by Taiwan since it signed the landmark Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China in June. The ECFA was essentially a deal in which Taiwan moved closer to China and away from independence in exchange for a stronger economy. Before the deal, Taiwan regularly blamed Chinese interference when trying to sign trade agreements with its trading partners.

Lo said that Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou is optimistic about the potential trade agreement with Singapore and believes that completing such a deal would help Taiwan “forge closer economic ties with some other trade partners.”

Prior to the signing of the ECFA, Taiwan’s President Ma said that the deal would appease Beijing and make its neighbors more willing to sign bilateral trade pacts – it seems like he may have been right.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council Minister Shin-yuan Lai said on Thursday that “many countries and trading partners have shown strong interest in forming” free trade agreements with Taiwan recently. She also added that, as a member of the World Trade Organization, Taiwan had the right to sign trade agreements with other nations.

“The right to make that decision is with Taiwan, not with Mainland China,” she said.

China’s calm and calculated remarks on the deal suggest that they were involved in the agreement’s primary discussions.

“We believe Singapore will adhere to the one-China policy, and properly handle its economic and trade relations with Taiwan accordingly,” an official from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said, according to state-run Xinhua.