Former MAC chief: Cross-Strait peace will be affected if China suspends ECFA

China should consider the consequences before suspending the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) as it would affect peace across the Taiwan Strait, former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said on Friday.

Any attempt by China to suspend the free trade agreement, signed in 2010 during the administration of former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), would lead to a deterioration in relations between Taiwan and China, Chiu said.

“China should carefully consider its actions because a suspension of the ECFA will have an impact on economic cooperation and the peaceful development of bilateral relations,” he said.

After abolishing preferential tariffs on 12 Taiwanese products late last year, the Chinese Ministry of Finance announced on Friday that it would suspend preferential tariffs on 134 Taiwanese products effective June 15.

The items include base oils for lubricants, racing bikes and textile products.

Political observers said that by expanding the number of products not covered by preferential ECFA tariff rates and conducting two days of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan last week, China expressed its displeasure with the inaugural speech of President William Lai (賴清德), ​​who was sworn in on Monday last week.

In his speech, Lai referred to the Constitution and said: “The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other.”

Over the past three decades, Taiwan, like other countries, had hoped to trade with China, but those hopes evaporated when Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) began pushing for military aggression, Chiu said.

“If Taiwan and China stop economic exchanges, only social exchanges will remain,” Chiu said.

Some have claimed that the ECFA’s tariff concessions would affect over 400 Taiwanese products and that the suspension could be a “killer” for Taiwan’s economy. However, Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a researcher at the Bruegel think tank, disagrees.

The agreement has now become “less important” as Taiwan’s economic structure has changed, she said.

At a time when global supply chains are changing, Taiwan is placing more emphasis on the US market than the Chinese market, while the European market is expected to offer more opportunities to attract Taiwanese investment, she said.