Word: china
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...monthly double-digit decline - as demand for the island's computer and electronic equipment shriveled in the U.S. and Europe. The government expects GDP to contract 3% in 2009; some private estimates predict worse. The severity of the crisis brought new urgency to the effort to improve ties with China in order to capitalize on one of the world's few remaining sources of growth. "If we had not opened up to the mainland, we would suffer more," Ma says...
...Taiwan banks, for example, can't operate on the mainland because the necessary agreements aren't in place to allow regulators from the two sides to cooperate, cutting off a key source of growth. Victor Kung, president of Fubon Financial Holding Co., says Taiwan's isolation from a burgeoning China has stunted the development of the entire economy. As costs at home have risen and the island's manufacturing has moved offshore, Taiwan has needed to foster new industries, especially in the service sector, to generate growth and jobs, but a lack of access to China has hindered those efforts...
...promising more reform. In April, China and Taiwan inked an agreement that will start the process of liberalizing cross-strait financial services. More broadly, Ma intends to forge a comprehensive economic-cooperation agreement with Beijing that would reduce tariffs on Taiwan exports to China as well as provide investment guarantees and protect intellectual property. There is a reason to hurry. In 2010, China is slated to slash tariffs on goods from nations in Southeast Asia, potentially putting Taiwan's products at a greater disadvantage in the China market. Through a bilateral trade agreement, Ma says, "We hope we can avoid...
...this seems about as far as Ma is prepared to go. He is holding off on China's offer to negotiate a peace treaty, insisting that Beijing must remove missiles pointed at his island as a precondition to talks. Relations between the two have improved so much, he believes, that the security threat has been significantly alleviated. "Taiwan is no longer a flash point in East Asia, and that's what we want," Ma says...
...Even more importantly, Ma rejects the possibility of negotiations with Beijing that touch upon Taiwan's political status or raise the issue of unification. People in Taiwan "still have a lot of doubts about China," Ma says. "They fear [the mainland Chinese] way of life is not something they can accept." Though Ma may be bridging the gap with China faster than anyone could have expected, one year - even one of great progress - can't erase 60 years of animosity...