Rising discord between Taiwan and China as crucial elections approach in Taiwan has raised the idea that Beijing could threaten the island's economy by terminating the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. The pact, signed in 2010 when cross-strait relations were more cordial, offers a range of preferential policies giving Taiwanese manufacturers and exporters duty-free access to the otherwise restrictive mainland market and establishes the possibility of extending that access to trade in services.
The pact's expiration -- or even merely the idea that it would be allowed to expire -- could provide political ammunition to the Taiwanese opposition Kuomintang -- which Beijing arguably would prefer to win Taiwan's January elections over the governing Democratic Progressive Party....
