After the year of 2000, free trade agreements have been blooming globally. The
Asia Pacific takes a ride of this new trend. Among those ongoing regional FTA’s,
the one promoted by China has most negative impacts on Taiwan. China did not just
exclude Taiwan to sign any FTA with Asian countries, but also block out any
possibility by political intervention. Some Taiwanese scholars are worried that if
Taiwan fails to t break through those barriers, it may be marginalized sooner or later.
This paper argues that according to Taiwan’s international trade and global investment
data, there is no sign for Taiwan being marginalized. In fact, Taiwan’s economic
situation has not been affected by the fact that no FTA with other Asian countries has
been so far. Nonetheless, this short article is not intended to show how ASEAN plus
one and three have negative impacts on Taiwan directly. Certainly, it requires further
studies.
This paper will firstly describe the latest development of regional economic
organizations in the Asia Pacific. Within the framework of global investment and
trade, we try to analyze Taiwan’s international trade and investment, and changing
patterns of the two. After that, this paper will review how Taiwan’s trade and
investment have been dependent upon China. Since China has long been trying to
block Taiwan international relations with other countries, we will endeavor to discern
whether Taiwan’s economic dependence on China has anything to do with the
entrance of Taiwan and China into the WTO. And finally, we will come out with
some suggestions on possible economic ways out for Taiwan.