ECFA can create over 105,000 job opportunities in Taiwan: report

Taipei, Oct. 21 (CNA) In a best-case senario, the proposed cross-strait economic agreement would create 105,000 to 125,000 job opportunities in Taiwan, according to a report released Wednesday. Prof. Lin Kuo-jung, director of International Trade at the Chihlee Institute of Technology that was commissioned by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) to conduct the study, weighed the impact on Taiwan if the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) is signed and if it is not. Adopting the global trade analysis project (GTAP) model, Lin based his research on four scenarios -- the formation of a free trade grouping among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China, South Korea and Japan (ASEAN +three) without the ECFA; an ASEAN + three grouping with both Taiwan and China denied access to each other's agricultural markets; an ASEAN + three grouping with China opening its agricultural market and Taiwan's remaining closed; and an ASEAN + three grouping with both Taiwan and China adopting an open market policy. click here for more ...