TAIWAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES ECONOMIC AGREEMENT WITH CHINA

Taiwan’s parliament has ratified an agreement for economic cooperation with China signed last June. At the end of a session that lasted over 13 hours, President Ma Ying-jeou obtained approval for the law. This agreement is the most important one signed between the two countries in the last 60 years and involves a reduction in custom tax for 539 articles made in Taiwan (saving Taiwan $13,800) and for 239 Chinese goods (benefitting China about 2,860 million dollars). The sectors involved include the petrochemical one, cars, textiles and non financial services. Bilateral exchanges currently amount to $110,000 million a year, but experts believe the amount will rise during the early months of next year thanks to this contract.