Taiwan, Singapore to pursue trade pact

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan and Singapore will pursue a free trade-style deal, the two sides said on Thursday, a key to Taipei's long-term growth strategy and following a trade pact with political foe China.

Taiwan, which has not signed free trade agreements with its major trading partners due to opposition from China, will negotiate with Singapore a deal under the World Trade Organisation framework, presidential office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang said.

Singapore, which decided earlier on Thursday to pursue the deal, is seen motivating Asian peers to seek pacts with Taiwan if economic powerhouse China does not protest this one.

An China-Taiwan economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) signed in June to lift trade between the export-led $390 billion island economy and its No.1 trade destination raised the island's appeal among Asian nations.

"We will pursue this deal. It's basically an FTA, though we may use a different name," Lo said. "Singapore is an economic hub in Asia, and trade is Taiwan's lifeblood."

A statement from Singapore's Taipei trade office said the two sides had "agreed to explore the feasibility" of an agreement under the WTO and would meet later in the year for discussions.

China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own and seeks to stop it from doing any official business with foreign governments, had long used its diplomatic clout to block free trade deals.

But Beijing signalled last month that it was finally willing to let Taiwan negotiate trade pacts with the outside world, a senior Taipei official said.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Kazunori Takada)