China and Taiwan set to sign trade pact

Senior negotiators from Taiwan and the mainland are set to sign a service trade pact in a new round of cross-strait talks later this month, South China Morning Post reported. A preparatory meeting will take place Friday in Taipei, where the details concerning the ninth round of talks will be laid out, according to a spokesman for Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation. Taiwan media, citing anonymous government sources, said the ninth round of cross-strait talks and the signing of the service trade pact will likely take place in Shanghai or Nanjing during the third or fourth weeks of June. Negotiations for the agreement between Taiwan and the mainland have reportedly been underway since February 2011.