Study On Some Legal Issues Concerning The CECA Between Mainland China And Chinese Taipei

December 31,2008,it was reached the consensus between Mainland China and Chinese Taipei(Taiwan) on concluding the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement(CECA),which triggers wide discussion in all fields.This note will focus on the legal issues involved in the CECA in the context of the WTO rules.The note has four chapters.The first chapter starts with the introduction of the regional trade agreements(RTAs) and the regional economic integration as the background for the CECA.It also demonstrates the necessity to conclude the CECA. This Part offers some basic knowledge for further discussion thereafter.The second part focuses on some fundamental legal issues related to the conclusion of the CECA.First of all,it analyses the legal nature of the CECA under the framework of WTO,from the aspect of the legal status of Mainland China and Chinese Taipei and the legal basis to conclude the CECA.Further,it specifies the conditions provided by GATT and GATS to conclude the CECA.A very important issue in this chapter is the liberalization coverage of the trade in goods required by GATT.As to the third chapter,it discusses the model and contents of the CECA, including three parts:1) the comparison between different models of RTAs with the purpose to find out the most proper one for the CECA;2) the objectives,principles and chapters settings of the CECA;3) the discussion on some significant and complicated issues,including "early harvest" programme,rules of origin,anti-dumping and security exception,etc.The last chapter on this note is about some perspectives of the CECA.It will discuss the possibility to succeed in concluding the CECA and the possible revision of laws for the implementation of the CECA.The innovation of this note is mainly on the topic.CECA is a relatively new model for regional trade agreements.A highlight of this model is the "early harvest" programme.Almost no paper before specialized in the topic and the programme while both of them are embedded in this note.Also,this note has practical value by offering suggestion on negotiating the CECA.Moreover,the data used in the note are almost all the latest available data issued officially,which makes the data more reliable.