High prospects for cross-Straits service trade pact

SHANGHAI - Negotiators from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan on Thursday spoke highly of the prospects of a service trade agreement in strengthening cross-Straits economic ties and boosting the two sides' respective competitiveness in the service industry.

Both Zheng Lizhong, a senior negotiator from the Chinese mainland and his Taiwan counterpart, Kao Koong-lian, underlined the significance of the pact as they co-chaired a consultation in Shanghai.

The consultation was held in preparation for final talks and a signing ceremony of the pact that will be attended by their respective superiors on Friday.

Zheng, executive vice president of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straitss (ARATS), said the agreement will further liberalize and facilitate service trade between the two sides across the Strait.

"The signing of the service trade agreement will be a new achievement under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are expected to share more bonuses in peacefully developing cross-Straits relations," he said.

Kao, vice chairman of the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), believes both the mainland and Taiwan can make their respective advantages complementary to each other through increased economic and trade cooperation.

Both sides across the Taiwan Straits can raise their competitiveness together and achieve a win-win result through closer economic and trade ties, he said.

The service trade agreement is one of the follow-up deals for a wide-ranging cross-Straits economic pact signed in 2010. The ECFA, containing a number of programs and agreements, some of them still under negotiation, aims to reduce tariffs and commercial barriers between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan.