Research On Construction Of The Rule Of Economic Law For The Economic Zone On The Western Coast Of The Taiwan Strait

As an inalienable part of the motherland, Taiwan always enjoys an important position and the issues concerning Taiwan are of great research value both in theory and in practice. Located on the western side of the Taiwan Strait, Fujian Province is in close proximity to the Taiwan area in terms of geography, consanguinity, culture, commercial and juristic practices. When it comes to the intercourse with Taiwan, Fujian has always been the foreland and an important platform since ancient times. At the same time, Fujian also undertakes the historical responsibility for promoting the reunification of our motherland.The main contents of this paper include the theoretical bases, the status quo, the development trend of the Economic Zone on the Western Coast of the Taiwan Straits (hereinafter refers to as the Economic Zone) and so on. This paper makes a systematic and comprehensive research on the rule of economic law within the Economic Zone. Up till now, a lot of effective research work has been done about how to promote the building of the Economic Zone. Unfortunately, few scholars have carried out their research work from the perspective of the rule of economic law. Therefore, the research status surely affect the development pace of the Economic Zone to some extent. Based on the academic achievements of economics, sociology and history, the author of this paper tries to make some scientific researches on the development of the Economic Zone from the legal angle. The emphases of this paper are as follows: the integration of the legal systems across the Strait and within the Economic Zone and the innovation of a cooperative mechanism for the Economic Zone. The aim is to build sound legal surroundings, to promote the personnel intercourses and economic ties, to build a common market and to realize the reunification of our motherland.This paper is divided into five chapters, and the main contents of each chapter are as follows:Chapter I introduces the basic situations of the Economic Zone. Firstly, the author studies the meaning, the development objectives, the functions and the nature of the Economic Zone. The Economic Zone is mainly located in Fujian Province, covering the surrounding areas, facing Taiwan, neighboring Hong Kong and Macao. Besides, the Economic Zone lies next to the Yangtze River Delta in the north, and next to the Zhujian-River Delta in the south. With its own characteristics and unique advantages, the Economic Zone is an integrated economic organization of sub-regions within the same sovereign state. Secondly, the author introduces Marx and Engels’ theory of economic integration, the theory of regional division of trade, the theory of growth pole, and the theory of industrial clusters. The concept of the Economic Zone is in line with the theories of economic integration and cooperation. Thus the Economic Zone is of great importance and evidently differs from other traditional economic zones. Finally, the author introduces the responses to the Economic Zone from both sides across the Strait.ChapterⅡdeals with the definition of the rule of law and the need to construct the rule of economic law for the Economic Zone. At first, the author introduces the meanings of the rule of law. The rule of law is based on and aimed at democracy, the kernel of which is to act within the law limits, and to restrain the use of power. Thus the rule of law is the integration of social management systems, models of social conductions and social orders of both a country and a society. A country under the rule of law is the embodiment of state nomocracy and an amplified area under the rule of law. Consequently, the paper emphasizes the importance of the rule of economic law in the process of developing the Economic Zone.ChapterⅢanalyzes the legal surroundings concerning the building of the Economic Zone. In this part, the author firstly introduces the legislative status quo within the economic zone, such as the specific contents for Taiwan in the Anti-secession Law, the lawmaking power of local authorities granted by the Legislation Law, the laws concerning economic relations with the mainland passed by Taiwan authorities (and vice versa), and the resolution systems for the trade disputes within the WTO framework. Then the author summarizes the main handicaps of the establishment of the rule of economic law for the Economic Zone, such as the cooperative mechanism of economy and trade across the Strait, the outdated legislations and the conflicts among the local legislations. The author also analyzes the reasons for the above-mentioned handicaps at length, namely, the different development phases of the economic structures across the Strait, the conflicts of local interests, the conflicts between economic globalization and economic integration, and the differences between juridical systems across the Strait. Finally, the author discusses the opportunities and challenges in the establishing process of the rule of economic law in the Economic Zone. When Kuomintang came into power again, the relations between the two sides began to develop in a right direction. Both sides attempt to strengthen cooperation and to replace confrontations with dialogues. The new concepts of the mainland’s Taiwan policies are gradually secured by laws. And the implementation of CEPA will have some impacts on the establishment of the Economic Zone. Besides, some factors from the outside world will also influence the relations across the Strait.ChapterⅣstudies the successful experiences about how to develop the regional economic zones in the developed countries, including the USA, the EU and Japan. From the comparison, we can get some inspirations about how to improve the legal surroundings in the Economic Zone. Thus the author provides some theoretical preparations for ChapterⅤ, which focuses on the improvement of legal surroundings in the Economic Zone and the coordinative mechanism of legal practices across the Strait.In ChapterⅤ, the author offers some suggestions about how to establish the rule of economic law in the Economic Zone. From the above-mentioned status quo of the rule of economic law across the Strait, the author clarifies the handicaps. And the suggestions are also partly based on the lessons from the western countries. The author suggests that the legislative planning and the coordinative mechanism of the rule of economic law should be effectively integrated for the sound development of the Economic Zone. Firstly, we need to define the functions of governments in order to establish clean and effective governments in accordance with laws. The building of the Economic Zone is completely under the guidance of governments whose efficiency needs to be gradually improved. Secondly, we need to improve the legislations for the regional economic zone to achieve social equity and justice. The author discusses the following issues in detail, such as the guidelines for lawmaking, the factors that will influence lawmaking, the ways to improve the efficiency of lawmaking, the lawmaking patterns, the key areas of the economic lawmaking, and so on. Generally speaking, the economic lawmaking shall focuses on the following aspects, such as the macro-control, the order of market economy, the normalization of governmental conducts, investment attraction, investment in Taiwan, financing and taxation, the use of resources, environmental protection and cultural exchanges. Finally, it is necessary to establish a coordinative mechanism for the rule of economic law in order to resolve the conflicts of interests among the local governments in the Economic Zone. Besides activating the innovative abilities of the local governments at all levels, the macro-control of the central government must be strengthened. With necessary state intervention, we are able to integrate the judicial resources and improve the coordinative measures such as administrative permission, the integrative clearance system and so on. Thus the Economic Zone will enjoy sound legal surroundings.