台澳自由貿易協定談判──限制與突破

Time for Taiwan-Australia FTA Negotiations

台灣與澳大利亞同為環太平洋區的一員，兩者皆為出口導向的經濟體，也都是自由貿易的擁護者。在亞太地區，澳洲尤其是推動區域經濟合作的先鋒。除此之外，澳洲也積極的與多國簽訂雙邊FTA展現對自由貿易的高度熱忱。就貿易結構而言，台灣與澳洲的進出口貿易和投資項目呈現高度經濟互補，對雙方而言皆構成簽署雙邊FTA的有利條件。然而，台灣與澳洲始終沒有開啟FTA談判，甚至連非正式的可行性研究都不見討論。本文聚焦於此議題，首先分析台澳貿易結構，並以與台灣經濟結構近似的韓國在面對與澳洲的FTA談判時所面對的主要障礙為借鏡。接著提出本文主要論點，認為真正讓台澳FTA談判躇滯不前的原因不在經濟間，而在政治面。欲為政治僵局找到出路，採非傳統國際關係理論的建構主義為研究途徑，從澳洲社會由下而上的重建台灣形象。方法上本文使用Google線上民調理解澳洲社會對台灣的認識，並證明對台灣認知的強弱程度會直接影響人民對簽署FTA的支持程度。

Situated around the Pacific Rim, Australia and Taiwan are both economies that embrace trade and foreign investment with other economies in the region as well as with the world. Australia, namely, has been a keen advocate for free trade and liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region. Not only is it the initiator of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), the first Asia-Pacific economic forum founded in 1989, it has since then been the central figure in promoting regional economic integration in Asia. As partner of numerous bilateral FTA, Australia is also member of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) and TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement), two main economic blocs in the East Asian region that are in the making.