Taiwan’s entry to WTO hailed as great achievement
Taiwan's minister of economic affairs Lin Hsin-i, said membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was "a very big achievement" for his country. The accession was approved by the 142 member countries and marked the return of Taiwan to a major world body 30 years after being expelled from the United Nations. Taiwan joined the WTO just behind mainland China.
Mr Lin said: "This means a lot to the 23 million people of Taiwan. In the past, we could only conduct bilateral relations with other countries. Now we will be in the international arena," He added, "As equal members, we have full rights and obligations which we will honour. We can take part in a multilateral mechanism and have the opportunity to have a dialogue in a global forum."
But the historic accession of the two governments into the WTO has not solved the political arguments between them that will become more acute with the rapid increase in trade. Beijing insists Taipei accept the "One China" principle before it will discuss direct trade, postal and air links - the so-called "three links" - and other bilateral economic issues. Mr Lin repeated his Government's refusal to accept "One China" as a pre-condition but said it could be on the agenda.
He called on China to agree to a regular mechanism to solve problems, a proposal he had made to the mainland's Foreign Trade Minister, Shi Guangsheng, when they met at an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) forum meeting in Suzhou in September.
Mr Lin said his Government was working towards the "three links" but said this had to be done by both sides. He said he did not rule out taking disputes with China to the WTO dispute mechanism.
