Three declarations were announced today (17th, Oct) by the Council of Agriculture (COA) after the three fora on cross-strait agricultural cooperation held in Hainan between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Communist Party of China (CCP) concluded:

1. The COA supports the resolutions that were reached with regard to the recent cross-strait agricultural cooperation forum as long as the resolution are beneficial for Taiwan’s agricultural development and farmers. It has been one-and-a-half year since the first forum held by KMT and CCP April last year, but the resolutions haven’t been carried out successfully. The quantity of Taiwan’s fruits exported to China is still limited; however, the brand name of Taiwanese agricultural products won by high quality has been pirated by China. Fruits produced in China is being exported to other countries under the name of Taiwanese fruits and the export market of Taiwanese agriculture products to Japan is being gradually replaced by China. The inferior and bargain agriculture products produced in China are smuggled into Taiwan, which causes serious harm to the Taiwan’s farmers. Trade competition between Taiwan and China is getting fiercer, meaning that there is no real complementary relationship.

2. There are some common propositions concluded in this forum, such as to increase the imports of Taiwanese agriculture products and implement the preferential policy, to examine and penalize the sales of counterfeits to protect the intellectual property rights of the agriculture products trademarked by Taiwanese, and to satisfactorily negotiate trade entanglements. Those propositions contain the positive message we have sought. However, to solve these problems needs the public power enforcement. Negotiation between governments on both sides of the Strait is thus necessary. Propositions soon become slogans if not executed.

3. After joining the WTO, the development of agriculture should take future global deployment into consideration. The priority is the overall development of Taiwan agriculture and benefits for farmers. Some believe that agriculture trade between Taiwan and China combines the agriculture advantages of the both sides and helps through mutually beneficial arrangements and fairly executed reciprocal trade. However, judging by the economic and trade situation, the investment climate, the technological exchanges, and the market situation between Taiwan and China in recent years, no clear picture of a fair competitive or complementary relationship is evident. This has generated controversy nationwide. COA is going to cooperate with academic research institution to arrange a cross-strait agriculture forum. The forum will address all the agricultural subjects which both parties concern and hope to achieve a common consensus and formulate necessary goals for further action.