The Land Bank holds a forum on "National participation in Regional Economic Integration and Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement"

The Land Bank held a symposium on "China's participation in regional economic integration and cross-strait service trade agreement"

(Taiwan Business News) In order to understand the advantages and disadvantages and business opportunities of cross-strait service trade agreements for Chinese enterprises, Taiwan Land Bank held three symposiums on "Taiwan's Participation in Regional Economic Integration and Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreements" in Taipei, Hsinchu and Taichung on May 6, 8 and 12. Zhang Junfu, Director General of the Bureau of International Trade of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Xu Dawei and Jiang Wenruo, Deputy Directors General of the Bureau of International Trade of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, were invited as speakers to discuss the two major issues of regional economic integration and cross-strait service trade, so as to facilitate domestic entrepreneurs to grasp the development opportunities of regional market liberalization.

The first session of the symposium series was a keynote speech by the Director General of the Bureau of International Trade, Zhang Junfu, in person at the Land Bank Head Office on May 6. The participants were the heads of all levels of the Land Bank Head Office and the heads of business units in the Greater Taipei area. The conference first explained the current economic and trade situation of China, including the promotion of FTA/ECA negotiations with foreign countries and the challenges facing China's economy at present, such as global economic risks affecting China's export performance, insufficient dispersion of export markets, concentration of export product structure, insufficient competitiveness of main products, high proportion of overseas production due to international division of labor, and the impact of international regional economic integration on China's export competitiveness. In terms of regional economic integration, global regional economic integration is accelerating, international bilateral and regional FTAs are prevalent, among which the more important regional economic integration frameworks for China include TPP(Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement), RCEP(Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) and TTIP(Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). The necessity of China's participation in regional economic integration and the impact of failure to join are analyzed.

In terms of cross-strait trade in services, the mainland has opened 80 specific commitments that are better than its WTO commitments, and has given Chinese companies better conditions than other foreign companies; our side has opened 64 specific commitments, all of which have been opened to foreign companies. The benefits of the cross-strait service trade agreement include establishing an institutionalized platform for handling cross-strait service trade-related affairs, providing opportunities for the development of China's service industry, increasing foreign investment and creating employment opportunities, and facilitating the signing of economic and trade agreements between China and other countries.

Gao Mingxian, general manager of Land Bank, said that the signing of the cross-strait service trade agreement is of great benefit to the development of China's financial industry, among which the business opportunities for domestic banking industry include: 1. The mainland relaxes the scope of recognition of Taiwanese businessmen;2. The mainland opens Taiwan-funded banks to set up branches in different places in Fujian Province;3. The mainland opens Taiwan-funded banks to set up village banks;4. When opening up mainland banks to handle overseas financial management business, they can invest in Taiwan's financial commodities; 5. Open up RMB qualified foreign institutional investors to invest in the mainland capital market, and open up a mechanism for Taiwan RMB funds to return to the mainland;6. Support cross-strait banking industry to carry out relevant equity investment cooperation, which can assist Taiwan banks to establish strategic alliances with mainland banks, which is of great help to domestic banks to expand the mainland market and move towards internationalization.