Service pact with mainland beneficial to Taiwan

Taiwan officials appealed to the island's legislature for early endorsement of the service trade agreement with the Chinese mainland for benefits to the island, at the legislative body's 11th public hearing on the agreement on Thursday.

Wang Yu-chi, chief of the island's mainland affairs authority, said that the 11 service trade sectors the mainland had liberated for Taiwan already generated benefits for the island.

The agreement that the mainland will open 80 more sectors to Taiwan and will help expand the businesses of Taiwanese providers, allowing them to enter the mainland market fast, Wang said.

He said the island must recognize that the mainland is the world's second largest economy, and two-way openness in the service industry across the Taiwan Strait is necessary for the island's economic liberation.

Wang Cheng-teng, deputy head of the island's agriculture authority, said that Taiwan had opened the husbandry counseling service sector to mainland investors since June 2009, but not one investment had been made so far.

He said if mainland investment flows to this sector, it will create more jobs for Taiwanese professionals, and build up connections between husbandry service industries across the Strait so that Taiwan's enterprises and practitioners will stand a greater chance of investing or being employed in the mainland.

Lee Hong-yuan, head of the island's internal affairs authority, said the trade pact allows Taiwan businesses operating in the mainland to hire professionals in the construction sector from Taiwan, with no time limit on their stay. Taiwanese construction companies are also permitted to bid for construction projects in the mainland.

All these clauses are opportunities for Taiwan investors to explore the mainland market, Lee said.

The service trade agreement, inked between the two sides in June this year, is one of several follow-up agreements to the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). a comprehensive cross-Strait economic pact signed in 2010 to reduce tariffs and commercial barriers between the mainland and Taiwan.

Under the agreement which stipulates lower market access threshold for service providers from both sides, the Chinese mainland will open 80 service sectors to Taiwan, while Taiwan will open 64 sectors to the mainland.