A former senior mainland negotiator with Taiwan on Tuesday urged Taipei to further ease its stringent mainland-trade policy in a bid to strengthen cross-Straits economic ties following the island's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Tang Shubei -- former executive vice-president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits -- also warned against Taipei's attempt to internationalize the Taiwan question by taking advantage of its entry into the WTO, which took effect on January 1.

He said: "Whether both sides of the Taiwan Straits can seize the opportunity arising from their WTO membership largely depends on how soon and to what degree the Taiwan authorities will adjust their existing management mechanism for mainland trade."

Tang made the remarks at a Beijing seminar entitled "The WTO and Cross-Straits Economic and Trade Ties," sponsored by the Beijing-based Cross-Straits Relations monthly magazine and the Hong Kong-based Straits Monthly.

Twelve experts and scholars from Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tianjin, along with dozens of officials from central government departments attended the one-day event.

Tang said that, while the mainland market has opened up widely to investment and products from the island, Taiwan still exerts unreasonable limits over investment and products from the mainland, which does not conform to WTO rules.

Taipei currently forbids Taiwanese investment in the production of eight-inch integrated circuits and some upper-stream petrochemical products on the mainland.

In addition, more than 3,500 agricultural and industrial products from the mainland are still banned from being imported although, on January 1, Taipei lifted a ban on another 700 mainland agricultural and industrial items.

In stark contrast with Beijing's approval of more than 50,000 Taiwanese-funded projects on the mainland so far, no mainland firm has been given the green light to invest on the island.

Furthermore, Taiwan authorities have hinted at only a partial and slow opening of the Taiwan market to the mainland instead of making an all-round and wide-ranging adjustment to its present mainland-trade management mechanism in line with WTO rules, Tang said.

He added that such a move "will eventually affect Taiwan's industrial restructuring and economic development as well as the common prosperity of both sides."

Lu Xiaoyan, assistant director of the Shanghai Research Institute of Taiwan Studies, accused the Taiwan authorities of "excessively politicizing" the Cross-Straits economic issue by citing security reasons for blocking mainland investment and products.

"Taipei has inappropriately magnified the security issue to hold on to its mainland trade policy, which goes against WTO rules," Lu said.

As for the alleged plan by the Taiwan authorities to discuss Cross-Straits economic and trade affairs under the WTO framework, Tang said the mainland strongly opposes any attempt to use an international organization to discuss one country's internal affairs.

Taipei's attempt to internationalize the Taiwan question "will achieve nothing other than bringing more trouble to the WTO and all its members and causing them to misunderstand the nature of the Taiwan authorities," Tang said.

He expressed his hope that Taipei would accept the mainland's proposal that Cross-Straits economic and trade exchanges should be handled as the internal affairs of one country.

Under such a condition, these affairs including the establishment of the three links -- direct trade, transport and postal links between Taiwan and the mainland -- may be solved through people-to-people, industry-to-industry and company-to-company consultation, Tang said.

Taiwan became the 144th member of the WTO on January 1, under the title of the "separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" -- or "Chinese Taipei" for short.

The Chinese mainland became the 143rd member on December 11.

(China Daily January 9, 2002)