Ji's Corner

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) could give Taiwanese businesses an opening to “move further up the value chain and develop more of [their] own branded goods and services,” a new analysis by the Brookings Institution says.

However, in the view of Brookings Taiwan studies director Richard Bush and economics expert Joshua Meltzer, the reasons for Taiwan to join the TPP go beyond the potential market openings with major trading partners and are “more strategic in nature.”

They say that the TPP’s liberalization agenda will require Taiwan to undertake a range of economic reforms that will have a “significant and positive impact” on Taiwan’s productivity, competitiveness and economic growth.

“Joining TPP can become a driver of domestic economic reform in Taiwan and in this respect could have a similar impact as the World Trade Organization,” Bush and Meltzer say in the analysis.

The TPP was built on a free-trade agreement between New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei.

In 2008, the US joined what became the TPP negotiations. Australia, Peru and Vietnam joined soon after, followed by Malaysia. Canada and Mexico joined the TPP last year and Japan joined the TPP negotiations a few months ago.

The negotiations are likely to be finalized early next year.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has committed Taiwan to joining the TPP by 2020.

The analysis notes that the parties to the TPP represent 650 million people and comprise a third of world trade.

One aim is to phase out tariffs on more than 11,000 products, with the most controversial being textiles, apparel, footwear and agriculture.

Taiwan’s membership in the TPP would allow other members to take advantage of the Taiwan-China Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and use Taiwan as a platform for trading and investing with China, the analysis says.

Meeting the goals of an agreement will not be an easy policy task for Taiwan, the analysis says.

“The US has a perception that Taiwan does not adopt science-based regulations for food safety,” it says.

“Some American officials and business representatives feel that regulators instead respond to public sentiment whipped up by a sensationalist media by adopting regulations that do little for food safety and a lot to protect local agricultural producers,” it says.

Bush and Meltzer cite Taiwan’s ban on imports of pork treated with ractopamine as an example.

The Ma administration should start developing policies aimed at liberalizing its agricultural sector while also providing policies to retrain and support those harmed economically, they say.

Joining the TPP would also require Taiwan to liberalize its services sector, but this would “drive innovation and reduce costs.” It would also help Taiwan become an international financial center and give Taiwanese businesses access to world-class legal, consulting, financial and engineering services, the analysis says.

¹布魯金斯學會一份新的分析顯示跨太平洋夥伴關係(TPP)不僅有助於台灣企業²價值鏈增值，也讓台灣能夠自創有品牌的商品與服務。然而，布魯金斯台灣研究主管Richard Bush與經濟學專家Joshua Meltzer認為台灣加入此夥伴關係原因不只是貿易對象的市場，也是台灣經濟體質需要的策略。他們也表示TPP基於自由貿易將會要求台灣實施經濟改革，這將對台灣的產能、競爭力與經濟成長有「重大的正面影響」。「加入跨太平洋夥伴關係可促使台灣國內經濟改制，該效果就如同參與國際貿易組織。」

跨太平洋夥伴關係過去是由紐西蘭、智利、新加坡、汶萊依據自由貿易協定所建構。2008年美國加入後變成TPP協商，接著澳洲、祕魯、越南、馬來西亞陸續加入，加拿大與墨西哥在去年加入，而最近加入的是日本。馬英九極力讓台灣在2020年之前加入，但該協商的成員可能會在明年初敲定。

分析指出夥伴關係涵蓋世界貿易的三分之一，將影響六億五千萬人，消弭超過一萬一千項產品的關稅，其中包括最具爭議的紡織品、成衣、鞋類與農作物。然而，同項分析指出美國對台灣食品安全問題存有隱憂，美國官員與商業代表認為台灣食安的控管單位面對聳動媒體激起的公憤，對食品的把關仍力不從心，反而極力保護國內農作物，台灣限制瘦肉精豬肉的進口就是一例。兩位學者也說馬政府應針對服貿自由制定相關政策與配套措施如培訓與幫助新制度下的受害者。夥伴關係要求台灣開放服務業，研究顯示此動作有利於產業創新與成本削減，使台灣成為國際金融中心之外也享有一流的法律、顧問、金融與工程資源。

1 布魯金斯學會，又稱布魯金斯研究所，或布魯金斯研究院，是美國著名智庫之一。學會主要研究社會科學尤其是經濟與發展、都市政策、政府、外交政策以及全球經濟發展等議題，總部位於華盛頓特區。 在賓夕法尼亞大學發布的2012年智庫報告中，布魯金斯學會被評為全球最有影響力的智庫。(source: Wiki)

2 價值鏈概念是由哈佛商學院教授邁克爾·波特(Michael Porter)1985年在《競爭優勢》(Competitive Advantage)一書中提出的。他認為，“每一個企業都是在設計、生產、銷售、發送和輔助其產品的過程中進行種種活動的集合體。所有這些活動可以用一個價值鏈來表明。”