Source: Government Information Office
My dear fellow countrymen:
Good morning to you all!
Today, I have good and exciting news to share with all of my fellow countrymen. Last night, the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference formally approved Taiwan's accession to the WTO, and the Protocol of Accession will be signed at midnight Taipei time. Taiwan now has completed its 12-year accession process. The related accession documents will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for review and approval, and 30 days after they are deposited at the WTO Secretariat, Taiwan will officially become a member of the WTO.
Fourteen laws and regulations related to Taiwan's WTO accession were passed on October 31. We hope that the Legislative Yuan will convene a temporary session on November 16 to review and approve the WTO accession documents, so that Taiwan will officially become a WTO member early next year.
Joining the WTO has long been the consensus and aspiration of our people. It is also a milestone for the ROC's participation in international organizations. Essentially, accession to the WTO enables Taiwan to open a new "window of the century" and a "window of the world."
I am extremely pleased to learn the news of our accession and would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to our delegation in Qatar, especially for its efforts during the final stage to safeguard Taiwan's right to equal participation. We should give the delegation the strongest praise and greatest encouragement.
Of course, special appreciation should be extended for all the efforts of the relevant departments and government officials over the past 12 years of negotiations before Taiwan succeeded in the WTO bid. The past 12 years has been a long and circuitous course for Taiwan, but they have taken every effort to make the final sprint in Taiwan's accession to the WTO. Eventually, they have won new opportunities and increased latitude for Taiwan to develop economic, trade, and foreign relations.
Furthermore, on behalf of our government, I give my utmost thanks and gratitude to most of the WTO members, particularly the United States, the European Union, and other friendly nations, which have positively assisted Taiwan's accession to the WTO. We thank them for their righteous support of a fair chance for Taiwan's participation in the WTO. I would also like to extend my warmest thanks and greatest respect to the WTO Secretariat, Director-General Mike Moore, and Mr. Martin R. Morland, chairman of the working party for Taiwan's accession, for their reliable and professional assistance in making possible Taiwan's smooth accession to the WTO.
Since the ROC is the world's 14th largest trading nation, I believe that our accession to the WTO will more closely connect us with the global trading system and bring more business opportunities to both Taiwan and the world in a free, fair, and rule-based international competitive environment.
As a WTO member, Taiwan will be better able to implement its economic development goal of "deeply cultivating Taiwan with a global perspective." We can also resolve trade disputes fairly and reasonably under the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO framework, which gives the ROC better protection in international trade competition.
Consequently, I would like to declare on this occasion that, as an independent sovereign country, the ROC will comply with the rules and norms of the World Trade Organization and actively participate in all WTO activities under the principle of equal participation. We will energetically interact and cooperate with all other WTO members in search of a better, freer, and fairer international multilateral trading system.
Naturally, we all know that at this WTO Ministerial Conference the People's Republic of China also joined the World Trade Organization. Thus, I personally would like to take this opportunity to welcome this concurrent accession of the ROC and the PRC. I am confident that the PRC's joining the WTO will further advance reforms on the Chinese mainland, leading to greater economic liberalization, closer integration with the world economy, and a better life for its people.
The concurrent accession will also help normalize economic and trade relations between the two sides and promote closer interaction and cooperation within the WTO's multilateral trading system.
Indeed, now that the ROC and the PRC are both members of the WTO, they should together uphold the spirit of "goodwill reconciliation, active cooperation, and lasting peace" that I have continuously promoted for some time. The two WTO members should jointly work for the greatest benefit of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait on the basis of mutual respect and equal participation.
In closing, I would like to remind all of you to effectively use the advantageous conditions resulting from our WTO accession, which generates business opportunities and global distribution for our country, and remember that entering the WTO will certainly bring challenges and impacts. Various government departments must quickly complete measures to manage the situation in a shortest possible time.
The government should also assist the people and businesses in making full preparations for international competition by actively raising our industrial competitiveness and seizing business opportunities arising from our WTO accession. Through active market liberalization and globalization, we will complete industrial re-structuring to enable our industry and economy to expand even further.