Taiwan, mainland China discuss starting talks on merchandise trade pact

The mainland offered cautious support yesterday for more talks on a cross-strait trade pact despite concerns that a deal might not make it through Taiwan's legislature.

Taiwanese Economic Affairs Minister Woody Duh Tyzz-jiun said Beijing would ramp up discussions with Taipei over a merchandise trade pact even though a similar agreement on services faltered in the Legislative Yuan earlier this year.

After meeting Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng on the sidelines of the two-day Apec Ministerial Meeting in Beijing, Duh said Gao pledged to enlist departments to speed up progress on trade talks.

"We hope to see progress on this front as soon as possible, but the mainland side has concerns after the services trade pact did not get the legislature's support and whether or not a new oversight law will be passed.

"It was the first time that we had met as counterparts, and we tried to deal with the fallout from the services trade agreement."

The merchandise and services deals are outgrowths of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement - a semi-free-trade pact - signed by the two sides in 2010.