ABSTRACT
Since May 20, 2008, as many as 16 agreements and three memorandums have
been signed between China and Taiwan. Most of them aim at normalizing eco-
nomic and trade relations across the Taiwan Strait. The trend of cross-Strait
rappro chement continued until June 29, 2010, when the Economic Cooperation
Framework Agreement (ECFA) was signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation
(SEF ) of Taiwan and the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait
(ARATS) of China. The ECFA was widely hailed as a landmark achievement
for both Beijing and Taipei, because it signaled to the world that both sides were
ready to bury the hatchet and seek peaceful resolutions for their political dis-
putes (BBC News, 2010). Moreover, since the nature of the ECFA is similar to
that of a free trade agreement, the signing of the ECFA has generated various
speculations that Taiwan and China would engage in serious economic integra-
tion, which may initially include Taiwan in the one-China market and eventually
lead to a political union (or unification) between China and Taiwan. Paradoxi-
cally, the above view is held by strategic planners of the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) and by independence-aspired politicians of the Democratic Progres-
sive Party (DPP) in Taiwan (The Economist, 2010). While not disputing the possibility that the ECFA may facilitate further cross-
Strait economic integration, others contend that the signing of the ECFA is
driven by economic globalization, which compels economies with complemen-
tary factors to cooperate in order to gain competitive edges in the global market.
From this perspective, cross-Strait economic integration, like it or not, is an
