WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/130
12December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5313)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Original: English
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
THE SEPARATE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OFTAIWAN,
PENGHU, KINMEN AND MATSU
Statement byH.E. Dr.Wang Chih-Kang
Minister forEconomic Affairs
(Speaking asanObserver)
Onbehalf oftheSeparate Customs Territory ofTaiwan, Penghu, Kinmen andMatsu, Iwish
tocongratulate Singapore foritssuccessful arrangement ofthefirstMinisterial Meeting oftheWorld
Trade Organization. Iwould alsoliketoexpress ourgratitude forhaving theopportunity toparticipate
inthisimportant meeting.
Despite thefactthattheChinese Taipei isnotyetaWTO Member, there isnodoubt thatit
isalready asignificant element oftheinternational trading community. Itwillsurely bebenefited,
ifthisConference proves tobeasuccess inmoving world trade towards further liberalization. We
therefore feelobligated toexpress ourviews which hopefully willcontribute totheconsensus-building
process ontheissues thatthisConference istoaddress.
Inourview, fullandtimely implementation oftheUruguay Round commitments isthebasis
forustomove forward inconstructing amore liberal trading order. Without it,thecareful balance
ofinterests reached intheURwillbelost,andthebalancing exercise inthedevelopment ofanagenda
forthepost-UR erawillbemade more complicated thanitshould be.
Forthesamereason, theunfinished businesses oftheRound should becompleted attheearliest
possibility, particularly intheareaofthefinancial andother services negotiations.
Astothebuilt-in agenda, wewould liketoseetheactual negotiations commenced onlywith
adequate preparatory work. Particularly, forlatecomers likeus,wewould appreciate verymuch a
preparatory process tohelpfamiliarize uswiththeissues andassess ourownpositions.
Intheareaoffurtherliberalization,wesupporttheproposedInformationTechnologyAgreement
which webelieve willhelpachieve thefullliberalization ofthemarket forinformation technology
products. Wewould liketoseebroad-based participation intheprocess; andparticipants which may
havedifficulty should begiven flexibility. Weourselves areprepared totalktoourtrading partners
ontherelated coverage andphasing issues, andwould make ourbestefforts tolimitthescope ofour
requests forflexibility.
Onthenewissues, wethink theirinclusion intotheWTO negotiation agenda willhavetowait
untiladequate consensus hasbeenformed. Working groups maybeestablished forbuilding such
consensus, andforexploring therelevance oftherespective newissues totrade ingeneral, andthe
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objectives oftheWTO inparticular. Wewould stress thatattheinitial stage astricter testshould
beapplied, inorder toavoid overloading theWTO agenda andunnecessarily burdening thenegotiators.
Itisworth noting thattheexisting provisions oftheWTO Agreements havecontained certain
elements ofthenewissues; forexample, boththeGATS andtheTRIPS provide room fordealing
withrelated competition issues. Members mayconsider tostarttheworkbased ontheconsensus already
builtintothese provisions.
Wecome toSingapore thistimewiththehopethatWTO Members willreinforce theirsupport
forouraccession, anearlyaccession. Wehavebeenworking onouraccession formore thansixyears.
AsmostMembers mayrecall, Chinese Taipei submitted itsapplication totheGeneral Agreement on
TariffsandTradeinJanuary1990,andchangedtheapplicationtoWTOapplicationafteritsestablishment
in1995.
During thesixyears andevenearlier, wehavecarried outcomprehensive reform ofourtrade
regime, andreduced trade barriers toprovide much greater market access toourtrading partners.
Ouraccession package negotiated sofarrepresents averysubstantial market access commitment.
- Ourindustrial tariffs willreach thelevel ofaround 3.5percentintrade-weighted
average terms, andagricultural tariffs willfallunder 11percentinnominal termat
theendoftheintended implementation period;
- allourtrade practices willbebrought inlinewiththeWTO Agreements upon our
accession, withoneortwopossible exceptions forwhich transition period willbe
negotiated;
- themost significant oneisregulatory reform toreduce theuseoftrade measure to
achieve regulatory objectives; particularly, thelicensing requirement willbereduced
totheminimum;
- wearenegotiating accession totheAgreement onGovernment Procurement, and
contemplating theaccession totheCivil Aircraft Agreement;
- what isparticularly worth mentioning isourcommitment under theTRIPS andthe
GATS. Ourprotection ofIPRhasmuch exceeded therequirement oftheTRIPS,
especially intheareaofborder control;
- ourcommitments made under theGATS arecomprehensive, andcover most, ifnot
all,oftheinterests ofourtrading partners.
Letmeemphasize thatfullimplementation ofouraccession package willmake ourmarket
oneofthemostcontestable ones. Weareprepared toofferthispackage totheworld trading community,
buthopetobereciprocated withWTO Membership.
Finally, Iwould liketotakethisopportunity toexpress ourappreciation tothoseWTO Members
whohaveparticipated inouraccession process. Iwould alsoliketonotethatwiththesupport and
assistance from ourtrading partners, ouraccession hasmade clear advances recently. Thesame
momentum, Ibelieve, isthekeytoourbecoming aWTO Member inthenearfuture.
Once again, Iliketothank allconcerned forproviding uswiththisprecious opportunity to
convey ourmessages totheWTO Members.