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TAIPEI: Taiwan and China will hold informal talks next week in preparation of a much-anticipated trade pact, local media reported on Monday.
Huang Chih-peng, director of Taiwan's Bureau of Foreign Trade, will lead a delegation to the mainland for the discussions, the Commercial Times said, citing unnamed sources.
The upcoming meeting, the fourth of its kind, is expected to set a timetable for formal negotiations and decide who will represent the two sides in the talks, according to the report.
It added the informal discussions also aim to determine which industries will be the first to enjoy preferential tariffs when the "Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" is concluded.
The report said Taiwan is expected to let the petrochemical, industrial equipment and textile sectors get preferential treatment first, as the three account for 30 per cent of the island's exports to the mainland.
The Bureau of Foreign Trade declined to comment on the report when contacted by AFP Monday.
Government officials here have said they expect the trade pact will be signed next year. They argue it will boost the flow of goods and personnel, raising annual economic growth by more than one percentage point.
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which favours independence from China, has strongly opposed the pact, which it claims would demote Taiwan to the status of a local government in future talks with the mainland.
China and Taiwan split in 1949 after a civil war, but relations have warmed since May last year, when the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou assumed the presidency.
In the first seven months of 2009, China accounted for 25.6 per cent of Taiwan's total exports, making it the largest buyer of the island's products and services.
- AFP/so
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