Beijing and Taipei signed trade agreements on industrial standards, food quarantine and fishery cooperation, setting the stage for a wider trade pact, the Wall Street Journal reported. Taiwan is hoping the agreements will pave the way for the introduction of the economic cooperation framework agreement, or ECFA, which it hopes will prevent Taiwan from being left out of closer integration between China and its trading partners in Southeast Asia. The agreements signed Tuesday include promises to work together to establish joint standards in areas where no international standards yet exist. The prospect of the ECFA has met with some resistance in Taiwan by manufacturers who fear being swamped by cheaper mainland imports. Zheng Lizhong, vice chairman of the mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits declined to predict when the ECFA might be completed. "In light of the importance and complexity involved, I think it is not wise to set a timetable for the signing of ECFA," he said.
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