TAIPEI: In its negotiations with the mainland on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), Taiwan will maintain its stance of not fully opening its market to mainland goods, despite Beijing's complaints about the restrictions, "Bureau of Foreign Trade" (BOFT) Director-General Huang Chih-peng said yesterday.

Huang made the remarks one day after the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing released a research report on the proposed cross-Straits ECFA, which stated that Taiwan's current restrictions on cross-Straits trade and investment are hampering the expansion of economic cooperation between the two sides and are unfavorable to the promotion of the ECFA.

Huang said he is not surprised at such reports, because there are indeed more than 2,000 items that Taiwan has kept on its restricted list. They include 830 agricultural products and some industrial products, which will remain banned even after the signing of the ECFA, he said.

Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou has been pushing for the signing of the ECFA with the mainland in an effort to reduce the impact on Taiwan of a new free trade area being formed between the Chinese mainland and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Critics of the proposed pact, however, argue that it will unleash a flood of cheap imports from the mainland on the Taiwan market and spur an exodus of capital that will worsen Taiwan's already record-high unemployment.

Meanwhile, head of the Executive Yuan, Wu Den-yih, said yesterday that Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou would meet Chinese Communist Party Chairman Hu Jintao only with the approval of the Taiwan public and in an environment of greater trust between the two sides.

Asked by a legislator to elaborate on Ma's statement Monday that he would not exclude the possibility of meeting with mainland leaders, Wu said the government's cross-Straits policies must be implemented at a steady pace over the long term, rather than being rushed or slowed down.

For example, Wu said, if the Taiwan government does not allow some enterprises to set up in the mainland, they may lose their market share. However, enterprises that move to the mainland too soon may lose their bases in Taiwan and hurt the Taiwan economy, he added.

Wu said he cannot project a timetable for any meeting between Ma and Hu, as both sides have to work to build greater trust and goodwill.

In addition, if there is no public consensus on the matter, it would be impossible to talk about a meeting between the two leaders anytime soon, he stressed.

Ma, who assumed chairmanship of his ruling Kuomintang (KMT) last Saturday, told Reuters in an interview Monday that he would not exclude the possibility of meeting mainland leaders one day.

"I won't exclude that possibility, but there's no timetable for that yet," Ma said.

Cross-Straits ties, which were strained when the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party was in power from 2000 to 2008, have warmed up since Ma took office in May 2008.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 10/21/2009 page2)