TAIPEI - The first attempt
by mainland China to open bilateral talks with Taiwan
under the framework of the World Trade Organization is
already running into trouble over what Taipei deems an
attempt by Beijing to downgrade the status of the Taiwan
WTO mission.
The mainland Chinese mission to the
WTO informed the Taiwan mission on November 20 that it
is ready to hold bilateral consultations in Geneva on
China's "safeguard measures" regarding its imports of 27
steel products. But in its communique, the mainland side
referred to the Taiwan permanent representative mission
as the "Taiwan economic and trade office", a status
applied to Hong Kong and Macau.
Beijing's
communist government views Taiwan as a renegade province
of China and balks at anything it sees as a move by the
island toward independence.
Taiwan cannot accept
mainland China's attempts to downgrade the status of the
Taiwan WTO mission, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC)
chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said in Taipei on Thursday.
Taiwan's representative to the WTO, Yen
Ching-chang, told reporters in Geneva that the Beijing
move was inappropriate because it is against WTO
principles.
Tsai pointed out that Taiwan cannot
accept the Beijing move, as it was obviously designed to
downgrade Taiwan's WTO status. She expressed hope that
Beijing will stop such political interference and
conduct consultations with Taiwan under the WTO
framework. If such political interference does not
cease, Tsai said, it will be very hard to conduct
bilateral consultations through the normal channels.
It is the first time that Beijing has openly
indicated its willingness to hold talks with Taiwan
under the WTO framework. Mainland China and Taiwan
became WTO members in December 2001 and January 2002,
respectively. The mainland established safeguard
measures on 27 steel products on May 24; they are set to
stay in place until May 23, 2005.
When asked
whether Taiwan will hold talks with the mainland within
the WTO framework on issues not related to the WTO, the
MAC chief said that if both sides consider it the best
channel for such talks, Taiwan will be glad to use it.
A WTO official said that the WTO Secretariat is
unlikely to interfere in the proposed bilateral
consultations between mainland China and Taiwan. The
official noted that the secretariat is usually not in a
position to get involved in bilateral talks among WTO
members.
Quasi-official negotiations between the
mainland and Taiwan came to a standstill after
then-Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui redefined
cross-Taiwan Strait relations as a "special
state-to-state relationship" in July 1999.
