英文摘要 |
This article examines the future policy direction of Taiwan’s joining TPP/RCEP while reviewing recent FTA strategies and achievements of President Ma Ying-jeou. Since Taiwan can consider the effect of TPP/RCEP as a method of modifying its economic relations with the Mainland, its implication is inseparable from its basic Mainland policy. While President Ma believed Taiwan can enhance possibilities of participating in ongoing trends of regional economic integration primarily by appeasing with Mainland China, Taiwanese people saw it as an excessive leaning towards China. From this lesson, Taiwan needs to reconsider its TPP/RCEP policy with more serious attention to maintaining the “status-quo” in cross-strait relations. In conclusion, Taiwan should focus on TPP, which institutionally and logically qualifies Taiwan, an equal APEC member, for the accession. The process to join TPP can be independently managed from the unstable influence of Sino-US power politics and peculiar cross-strait relations. TPP is an international initiative to integrate market economies, in which private sectors play an important role. It essentially involves Taiwanese people despite Taiwan’s lack of recognized sovereignty. For achieving its prosperity and security, Taiwan should behave as a globally institutionalized actor of civil society, which adheres to universal norms such as democracy, free trade, or rule of law. |