The nature of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement and its implications for peaceful development of cross-Strait relations: perspectives from the mainland

In August 1945 Chongqing was the city where the political negotiation between

the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party

(Kuomintang [KMT]) took place. Sixty-five years later the city witnessed another

historic event in cross-Strait relations. On June 29, 2010, the mainland-based

Association for Relations across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and the Taiwan-

based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF ) signed the landmark Economic Cooper-

ation Framework Agreement (ECFA). Aiming at establishing a systematic

mechanism for cross-Strait economic cooperation, the two sides agreed in the

ECFA to gradually reduce and remove trade and investment barriers and to create

a fair environment for free trade across the Taiwan Strait. They also agreed to set

up a Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Committee (CSECC) to ensure the nego-

tiation and implementation of the free trade and economic cooperation agreement.

According to the “early harvest program” agreed between the two sides, the main-

land is to reduce tariffs on 539 imported goods from Taiwan, while Taiwan is to