Foreign trade enterprises on both sides of the strait should exert positive energy

In March and April this year, some students in Taiwan held a 24-day campaign to oppose the cross-strait service trade agreement, which turned the world upside down. At the beginning, most Taiwanese did not know what "service trade" was. When there is trouble, I check some content, and then I gradually understand it and form my own opinion. Watching the fire from the other side of the mainland, the understanding of "service trade" is even more estranged. I don't understand what these young people who are full of food and have a student movement are doing? Now that the student movement has come to an end, it remains to be done to repair the cracks in cross-strait relations caused by this "anti-service trade".

The service industry accounts for 70% of Taiwan's GDP. The "service trade" has the greatest impact on Taiwan's small and medium-sized enterprises. Taiwan has always been skeptical about "promoting reunification through economy". The line of the Ma Ying-jeou administration's integration into the Greater China economic circle is based on economics and politics, so the issue is not only to protect future economic interests, but also to bring potential self-awareness to the fore.

Interactive topic: How can small and medium-sized enterprises on both sides of the Taiwan Strait join hands to dig into the international market amid the adverse current of "de-globalization"?

Mainland people were surprised Such concessions to Taiwan were met with opposition from the student movement. Some people regard "service trade" as "cutting meat" by the mainland, but Taiwanese do not appreciate it. This touches on the mentality of Taiwanese people in cross-strait trade and economics over the years that it is difficult to accept the mainland as a "beneficiary". Buying | Selling is mutually beneficial, why should one party cut the meat? What's the motive behind this? Isn't it just to besiege government with business and promote reunification with economy? Taiwan is afraid that the mainland is too big, and exchanges will eventually eat Taiwan. Therefore, while trading, Taiwanese sometimes think that they are losing themselves step by step. This kind of self-awareness is not limited to some people who support Taiwan independence. Over 80% of the people in Taiwan have chosen the status quo in polls over the years, and the mainstream public opinion is to maintain the independence of Taiwan's way of life.

Taiwan is a small place and highly dependent on foreign trade. As a member of the Greater China Economic Circle, it is true that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. In particular, the current global trade is facing many uncertainties, the debt crisis in Europe has not been fully resolved, the growth of emerging markets is not as good as before, and the US economy is undergoing a transformation. The U.S. trade deficit has been shrinking over the past five years, shrinking 12 percent between 2012 and 2013. Of course, there is a factor that the domestic oil shale production in the United States reduces energy imports. However, it is an indisputable fact that the US wage growth is slow, its purchasing power is weak, and it lacks the economic capacity to import a lot. In order to create employment opportunities and re-examine the value chain and supply chain, it has become common for American manufacturing to return to the country. A research report by the Boston Consulting Group shows that 20% of the manufacturing companies with annual sales of US$1 billion in the United States have transferred their production lines from overseas to local to varying degrees, and other companies that are considering the return of production account for half of the total respondents. .

Globalization is inseparable from the free flow of capital, and the new chairman of the Federal Reserve has said that the easy financing of the past is gone forever. China's tightening of credit is also part of a larger trend. At a time when the global economic recovery is sluggish, countries have stepped up protectionism, and complaints to the WTO have increased. The trade agreements that have been signed or are being negotiated are no longer global, but regional, or just bilateral, creating a fragmented landscape.

In the face of this trend of "de-globalization" and exclusion of cooperation with the mainland, Taiwan will become more isolated and its competitiveness will become more and more low. Taiwan cannot win international economic and trade by playing the card of democracy. support. Relying on fighting to slow down the economic integration of the two sides of the strait is a tightrope. The mainland does not necessarily have to make concessions everywhere. Once it refuses to restart negotiations, Taiwan will only suffer the consequences.

But Taiwanese people's dissatisfaction with the status quo on both sides of the strait does not happen overnight. In recent years, Taiwanese people have become increasingly resentful about the capital transactions of chaebols and the combination of political and business forces on both sides of the strait. The mainland real estate speculators have hyped up Taiwan's land prices and widened the gap between the rich and the poor on the island. Young people are afraid that "service trade" may reduce wages and deprive them of their future. Taiwanese businessmen in mainland China feel chilled when they witness the lack of protection of personal property rights in private enterprises. In the past, Chongqing used the name of "anti-corruption and anti-criminalism" to infringe on the rights and interests of private entrepreneurs. Recently, it has been rumored that the cases of private entrepreneurs Gu Chujun and Lan Shili who were imprisoned may be retried, but whether they can be rehabilitated is uncertain. What Taiwanese businessmen often hear is that as private enterprises grow bigger, dangers come. Lan Shili said: "No matter how big the boss is, a director will kill you." Legal system construction is a common problem faced by small and medium-sized enterprises on both sides of the strait. How to jointly promote reform is a huge proposition.

Just when the nerves in Taiwan were tense, the "tea eggs" hyped on the Internet, as well as the boring and funny threads, reflected the mutual misunderstanding between the two sides of the strait. Gao, who proposed tea eggs, is not representative in Taiwan. Why don't Taiwanese know the purchasing power of mainland consumers? Just look at the rich mainland tourists to know. TV variety shows have always been unstoppable, especially in the environment of competing for eyeballs and entertainment to the death, few viewers are serious about grandstanding, just listen to it. However, mainland netizens turned up these words to hype it up. The Weibo complaints about tea eggs quickly became a hot topic. Haier even used the topic of tea eggs to promote small kitchen appliances. This kind of naive and low spirit triumphed. It is really difficult for Taiwanese to agree; the cold jokes have deepened the anxiety and sense of crisis of Taiwanese. Not only is it not funny, but the bridges built in the past have been washed away by the sea of saliva. Taiwanese have to ask why mainlanders do not spend their energy on understanding The deep-seated reasons behind the "anti-service trade"? Deepening the crisis of confidence will make future cross-strait exchanges more difficult.

The mainland's policy toward Taiwan has progressed in many ways in the past two decades. For example, it has a more detailed and in-depth understanding of the soil where the so-called "sorrow" of Taiwan's local culture is produced, and various exchanges between the two sides of the strait are frequent. Unfortunately, these efforts have not become the so-called "irreversible" cross-strait relations. The arrogance and prejudice on both sides, appearing at a sensitive time, will be enough to slow down the pace of cross-strait exchanges in the future. The Taiwan student movement's objection to service industry agreements is mostly based on empty speculations about the future, and the years of running-in between the manufacturing industries on both sides of the strait have laid a solid foundation for joint cooperation. This is an extremely valuable resource. Greater bridge function. The most rational choice is for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to join hands to promote industrial upgrading internally, promote the construction of legal systems in the two places, and work together externally to find and create new foreign trade opportunities in the countercurrent of deglobalization. The so-called "benefiting" in the mainland has been blocked. It is imperative for compatriots on both sides of the strait to establish mutual trust. How to maintain calm and repair this rift requires our down-to-earth efforts.