FRIDAY DEADLINE:Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng had predicted that a key breakthrough would occur before the end of the month, but a source said that is unlikely

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 28, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

There is unlikely to be a breakthrough in the negotiation on a cross-strait trade in goods agreement before the end of the year, as the two sides have differences on tariff reductions, a Ministry of Economic Affairs source said yesterday.

“We previously thought we could hold the 13th round of formal talks on the pact in the middle or before the end of this month, but the closer we got to the scheduled dates, the more we found out that both Taiwan and China still could not make a concession on core issues in a short period of time,” a source in the Bureau of Foreign Trade, who is familiar with the negotiation progress, told the Taipei Times.

The source said the ministry has not set a time frame for the next round of talks.     [FULL STORY]