Taiwan's Participation in Regional Economic Integration-An Assessment, and the Outlook for the Future

Da-Nien Liu

《Prospect Journal》 11期 (2014/04) Pp. 11-38

並列摘要

The main aim of this paper is to examine the prospects for Taiwan's participation in regional economic integration. The paper begins by presenting an overview of regional economic integration in different regions around the world. There is a clear trend towards the emergence of three major regional blocs. If Taiwan is unable to achieve a breakthrough in terms of securing greater participation in regional economic integration, its economic competitiveness will be steadily eroded. To escape from this situation, Taiwan will need to focus on negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) that are based on mutual benefit, and it must be prepared to implement market opening. As regards the strategy for negotiating FTAs, it will be necessary for Taiwan to draw up a comprehensive strategy for its participation in regional economic integration, and to identify those industries that are likely to be negatively impacted by an FTA so that the government can communicate with firms in these industries in advance and formulate response strategies to minimize the negative impact. Taiwan also needs to complete the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) negotiations with China as rapidly as possible, to prevent the benefits from ECFA from being diluted, and must plan out a strategy in advance for dealing with the mutual impact of ECFA and the proposed FTAs between South Korea and China and between Japan, South Korea and China. In industry, the emphasis needs to be placed on expanding production, and on negotiating FTAs with Taiwan's main export markets. A secondary focus should be placed on job creation, working to negotiate FTAs with Taiwan's main trading partners for trade in services. At the same time, it must be recognized that FTAs are not a ＂magic bullet＂ for enhancing export competitiveness; ongoing industrial development still depends on the fundamentals.

並列關鍵字

Regional Economic Integration ； Free Trade Agreement ； ECFA ； TPP ； RCEP