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Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement
The Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, commonly abbreviated CSSTA and sometimes alternatively translated Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services, is a treaty between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) that was signed in June 2013. However, it was never ratified by the Taiwanese legislature due to opposition from the Sunflower Student Movement, which rejected the CSSTA on the grounds that the Kuomintang (KMT) leadership in Taiwan negotiated and attempted ratification of the treaty in an undemocratic way.
The treaty aimed to liberalize trade between the two economies in service industries such as banking, healthcare, tourism, film, telecommunications, and publishing. The CSSTA was one of two planned follow-up treaties to the 2010 Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. The other, the Cross-Strait Goods Trade Agreement, had not yet been negotiated.
The CSSTA was negotiated and signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation, representing Taiwan, and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, representing mainland China, on June 21, 2013, in Shanghai. The leadership of the KMT had hoped to immediately send the treaty to the legislature to be ratified, but substantial concern about the closed-door negotiations and the potential effects of the treaty among opposition lawmakers, academics, civic organizations, and ordinary citizens compelled the KMT leadership to agree on June 25, 2013, to a clause-by-clause review of the treaty and a series of public hearings on its possible effects.
On March 17, 2014, after a continuing standstill in the legislature over the review process, KMT leadership asserted that the review process had exceeded the allotted time and was to be considered complete, and the CSSTA would therefore be submitted to a final vote on March 21. The legality of this action is debated by experts. Public protest in response began that night, expressing disapproval of the purportedly antidemocratic behavior of the KMT as well as long-simmering discontent with the CSSTA. The protests quickly developed into the Sunflower Student Movement.
In June 2023, the 2024 presidential candidate for the Taiwan People's Party, Ko Wen-je, called for restarting negotiations on the CSSTA. His remarks drew criticism from Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan, DPP candidate in the 2024 election and then-Vice President Lai Ching-te, and other members of the Pan-Green Coalition. Ko distanced himself from his comments and maintained ambiguity on his viewpoint towards reviving the CSSTA, stating that supervisory regulations should first be passed. After Ko's initial remarks, KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih suggested Ko was partly to blame for the 2014 failure to pass and reiterated his support for the CSSTA.
The text of the CSSTA, including its two appendices ("Schedules of Specific Commitments on Trade in Services" and "Specific Provisions of Service Suppliers"), is in total approximately 50 pages long.
The main text enumerates rules regarding transparency requirements, administration of regulatory measures, prevention of unfair competition, an emergency negotiation mechanism, free movement of payments and capital transfers, and a principle of fair and equitable treatment.
The first appendix, "Schedules of Specific Commitments on Trade in Services," lists service sectors or sub-sectors and related commitments on market liberalization of the two parties. The schedule is a "positive list," meaning that service sectors or subsectors not explicitly listed in the schedule are not subject to increased opening. Up to 64 Taiwanese industries and up to 80 Chinese industries will be opened. Affected industries include business services, communication services, construction and related engineering services, distribution services, environmental services, health-related and social services, tourism and travel-related services, recreational, cultural, and sporting services, transport services, and financial services. The two parties made commitments on eliminating or reducing limitations on equity participation, expanding business scope in terms of geography or lines of business, and undertaking trade facilitation measures.
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Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement
The Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, commonly abbreviated CSSTA and sometimes alternatively translated Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services, is a treaty between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) that was signed in June 2013. However, it was never ratified by the Taiwanese legislature due to opposition from the Sunflower Student Movement, which rejected the CSSTA on the grounds that the Kuomintang (KMT) leadership in Taiwan negotiated and attempted ratification of the treaty in an undemocratic way.
The treaty aimed to liberalize trade between the two economies in service industries such as banking, healthcare, tourism, film, telecommunications, and publishing. The CSSTA was one of two planned follow-up treaties to the 2010 Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. The other, the Cross-Strait Goods Trade Agreement, had not yet been negotiated.
The CSSTA was negotiated and signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation, representing Taiwan, and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, representing mainland China, on June 21, 2013, in Shanghai. The leadership of the KMT had hoped to immediately send the treaty to the legislature to be ratified, but substantial concern about the closed-door negotiations and the potential effects of the treaty among opposition lawmakers, academics, civic organizations, and ordinary citizens compelled the KMT leadership to agree on June 25, 2013, to a clause-by-clause review of the treaty and a series of public hearings on its possible effects.
On March 17, 2014, after a continuing standstill in the legislature over the review process, KMT leadership asserted that the review process had exceeded the allotted time and was to be considered complete, and the CSSTA would therefore be submitted to a final vote on March 21. The legality of this action is debated by experts. Public protest in response began that night, expressing disapproval of the purportedly antidemocratic behavior of the KMT as well as long-simmering discontent with the CSSTA. The protests quickly developed into the Sunflower Student Movement.
In June 2023, the 2024 presidential candidate for the Taiwan People's Party, Ko Wen-je, called for restarting negotiations on the CSSTA. His remarks drew criticism from Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan, DPP candidate in the 2024 election and then-Vice President Lai Ching-te, and other members of the Pan-Green Coalition. Ko distanced himself from his comments and maintained ambiguity on his viewpoint towards reviving the CSSTA, stating that supervisory regulations should first be passed. After Ko's initial remarks, KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih suggested Ko was partly to blame for the 2014 failure to pass and reiterated his support for the CSSTA.
The text of the CSSTA, including its two appendices ("Schedules of Specific Commitments on Trade in Services" and "Specific Provisions of Service Suppliers"), is in total approximately 50 pages long.
The main text enumerates rules regarding transparency requirements, administration of regulatory measures, prevention of unfair competition, an emergency negotiation mechanism, free movement of payments and capital transfers, and a principle of fair and equitable treatment.
The first appendix, "Schedules of Specific Commitments on Trade in Services," lists service sectors or sub-sectors and related commitments on market liberalization of the two parties. The schedule is a "positive list," meaning that service sectors or subsectors not explicitly listed in the schedule are not subject to increased opening. Up to 64 Taiwanese industries and up to 80 Chinese industries will be opened. Affected industries include business services, communication services, construction and related engineering services, distribution services, environmental services, health-related and social services, tourism and travel-related services, recreational, cultural, and sporting services, transport services, and financial services. The two parties made commitments on eliminating or reducing limitations on equity participation, expanding business scope in terms of geography or lines of business, and undertaking trade facilitation measures.