Taipei, Oct. 19, 2012 (CENS)--Chairman S.C. Hsu of the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with his counterpart at the China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF), Wang Ruixiang, to push for inclusion of machinery into ECFA follow-up talks.
According to Hsu, Taiwan's equipment suppliers hope through talks mainland Chinese machinery manufacturers could no longer oppose to imports of Taiwan-made machining centers.
The mainland's manufacturers hope the talks would push Taiwan government to further reduce barriers to their investments in Taiwan.
Both Hsu and Wang pointed out that although machinery orders to suppliers on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits have slipped as the result of global economic slowdown, the cooperation and exchange between the two associations will not be affected.
Hsu noted that Taiwan's exports of machine tools to the mainland rose 14.8% in the Jan.-July period this year over the same period last year. In August alone, the Taiwan's exports to the mainland surged 18.4% from the same month last year, suggesting that the mainland market for machines is recovering.
Hsu pointed out that machinery industry between Taiwan and the mainland still have around 700 items of machines and components on the list of tariff-reduction talks.
(by Ken Liu)
