Published Date: 2021-12-15
Economics Minister
Wang Mei-hua says that Taiwan’s industrial sector will suffer if South Korea
joins the CPTPP trade pact and Taiwan is unable to do so. Wang was speaking
Wednesday before the legislature’s economics committee.
Taiwan applied to
join the CPTPP in September, but there are fears that China could get in first
and block Taiwan’s bid. Further complicating matters is the fact that one of
Taiwan’s main competitors in the industrial sector, South Korea, has just
announced its own application to join the trade pact.
Wang said that if
South Korea’s bid succeeds and Taiwan’s fails, Taiwanese manufacturers will
face high tariffs in CPTPP members that their South Korean competitors will be
exempt from. She said that Taiwan’s machinery, machine tool, steel,
petrochemical, textile, rubber, and bicycle-making sectors all stand to face
serious losses.
Wang also said
that a referendum scheduled for Saturday could hurt Taiwan’s chances of
acceptance into the CPTPP if it passes. On Saturday, voters will be asked
whether Taiwan should reinstate a ban on importing pork containing the
leanness-enhancing additive ractopamine, mainly from the US. Wang said that
South Korea has allowed the import of US pork since 2012, and that reinstating
the ban would reflect poorly on Taiwan as a trade partner.