Mayor welcomes closer cooperation
SHANGHAI - Signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with the mainland will help Taiwan "revive" its economy, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin said on Friday.
"The lack of economic exchange and cooperation across the Straits over the past decade has hindered the economic development of Taiwan ... It is now time for us to get rid of mainland-phobia and facilitate exchanges between the two sides by signing the trade pact," Hau said shortly after he arrived in Shanghai for the launch of the Taipei Pavilion in the Urban Best Practices Area of Expo 2010.
He also believes the ECFA can help pave the way for Taiwan to sign other free trade agreements, which will further contribute to revitalizing Taiwan's economy.
The ECFA, which aims to normalize ties between the mainland and Taiwan as well as to bring the two economies closer together, is still under negotiation between Beijing and the Kuomintang, the ruling party of Taiwan, though both sides hope to have it signed before the end of June.
A third round of negotiations is set to begin in Beijing in May or June, including a discussion on finalizing the so-called "early harvest program", which was discussed during the earlier two rounds of talks.
"Closer ties between the mainland and Taiwan would be mutually beneficial and such win-win results have now become a historical trend," said Hau, adding that Taipei and Shanghai, the two key cities across the Straits, have been heading in that direction by enhancing cooperation.
Four memoranda of understanding for mutual cooperation between the two cities were signed on April 6 during Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng's maiden visit to the island, a move that marked increasing interaction between the two cities.
The memoranda, the first on a city-to-city level, cover cooperation in the areas of culture, tourism, high-tech industrial parks and environmental protection. Hau said the signing of the memoranda marked a new mode of exchange and cooperation between the two cities and that he hoped it would set an example for other cities to seek closer ties and contribute to harmonious cross-Straits relations.
Hau also said on Friday that Expo 2010 Shanghai, together with the Taipei International Flora Expo, to be held in October this year, could further enhance cooperation between the two cities, as both sides have made great efforts to take part in these global events.
He encouraged people to visit the Taipei Pavilion in the Urban Best Practices Area of the Expo, in which two projects, Wireless Taipei and Taipei Infinity, will be demonstrated.
In the two programs, Taipei will demonstrate how to build up a wireless network that allows people to use the Internet for day-to-day tasks and how it aims to achieve the process of completely recycling resources, without needing to bury garbage.
According to Hau, the city currently recycles 46 percent of its resources, up from 2.5 percent eight years ago. It has also managed to reduce 67 percent of its garbage in the same period and met its target of zero burial of garbage.
