Another step towards reunification??
Read that 1 million Taiwanese live permanently in China. Top Taiwanese businessmen have large portions of their investments in China. This reminds of me EEC (European economic Community) - the precursor to the current EU. Except that in this case they share common culture, language, businesses.
Give them another 20 years and I think Taiwan will become a special administration zone just like HK. So US should think twice about selling sophisticated weaponary - they could very well get into hands of PLA!
China, Taiwan Sign Trade Agreement
By The Associated Press 06/29/10 - 04:12 AM EDT Loading Comments... Add Comment
BEIJING -- China and Taiwan signed a tariff-slashing trade pact Tuesday that boosts economic ties and further eases political tensions six decades after the rivals split amid civil war.
More on Market Features House, Senate Prepare To Debate Final NC BudgetGeneral Electric: 5 Reasons to SellUS Auto Sales Seen Slowing With Recovery In Doubt Beijing hopes the deal, signed live on state television, can lead to political accommodation. Taiwan is looking for the tighter economic links to keep the island from being marginalized as China's global clout grows. The pact will end tariffs on hundreds of products traded across the strait and allow Taiwanese firms access to 11 service sectors on the mainland, including banking, accounting, insurance and hospitals. It should boost bilateral trade already totaling about $110 billion a year: some $80 billion in goods flowing to China, and $30 billion to Taiwan.
The deal was signed in the southern Chinese city of Chongqing -- a venue with an evocative history. Communist leader Mao Zedong and Nationalist President Chiang Kai-shek tried to negotiate a truce there after World War II -- but failed. The two sides then resumed the civil war that ultimately saw Chiang's government driven from the mainland to Taiwan in 1949.
For decades, relations across the 100-mile- (160-kilometer-) wide Taiwan Strait have been strained and remain a potential military flashpoint. China has 1,300 missiles aimed at Taiwanese targets and, while Taiwan has cut its defense budget as a proportion of gross domestic product in the last two years, it retains a well-equipped air force as a deterrent.
"This is a critical moment in the development of long-term relations. We should seize the opportunity to work together and build mutual trust," Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan's semiofficial Straits Exchange Foundation, said ahead of the signing.
His Beijing counterpart, Chen Yunlin, called it an agreement of "equal consultation and mutual benefits."
Formally known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, the pact marks a political victory for both governments. Chinese President Hu Jintao has sought to move beyond the threatening rhetoric that long characterized Beijing's response to Taiwan's refusal to unify with the mainland. His government has talked of ending the state of hostility with Taiwan and negotiating a peace treaty.
Read that 1 million Taiwanese live permanently in China. Top Taiwanese businessmen have large portions of their investments in China. This reminds of me EEC (European economic Community) - the precursor to the current EU. Except that in this case they share common culture, language, businesses.
Give them another 20 years and I think Taiwan will become a special administration zone just like HK. So US should think twice about selling sophisticated weaponary - they could very well get into hands of PLA!
China, Taiwan Sign Trade Agreement
By The Associated Press 06/29/10 - 04:12 AM EDT Loading Comments... Add Comment
BEIJING -- China and Taiwan signed a tariff-slashing trade pact Tuesday that boosts economic ties and further eases political tensions six decades after the rivals split amid civil war.
More on Market Features House, Senate Prepare To Debate Final NC BudgetGeneral Electric: 5 Reasons to SellUS Auto Sales Seen Slowing With Recovery In Doubt Beijing hopes the deal, signed live on state television, can lead to political accommodation. Taiwan is looking for the tighter economic links to keep the island from being marginalized as China's global clout grows. The pact will end tariffs on hundreds of products traded across the strait and allow Taiwanese firms access to 11 service sectors on the mainland, including banking, accounting, insurance and hospitals. It should boost bilateral trade already totaling about $110 billion a year: some $80 billion in goods flowing to China, and $30 billion to Taiwan.
The deal was signed in the southern Chinese city of Chongqing -- a venue with an evocative history. Communist leader Mao Zedong and Nationalist President Chiang Kai-shek tried to negotiate a truce there after World War II -- but failed. The two sides then resumed the civil war that ultimately saw Chiang's government driven from the mainland to Taiwan in 1949.
For decades, relations across the 100-mile- (160-kilometer-) wide Taiwan Strait have been strained and remain a potential military flashpoint. China has 1,300 missiles aimed at Taiwanese targets and, while Taiwan has cut its defense budget as a proportion of gross domestic product in the last two years, it retains a well-equipped air force as a deterrent.
"This is a critical moment in the development of long-term relations. We should seize the opportunity to work together and build mutual trust," Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan's semiofficial Straits Exchange Foundation, said ahead of the signing.
His Beijing counterpart, Chen Yunlin, called it an agreement of "equal consultation and mutual benefits."
Formally known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, the pact marks a political victory for both governments. Chinese President Hu Jintao has sought to move beyond the threatening rhetoric that long characterized Beijing's response to Taiwan's refusal to unify with the mainland. His government has talked of ending the state of hostility with Taiwan and negotiating a peace treaty.
