The Taipei-based American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) said Tuesday that Taiwan should sign the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China to ensure the competitiveness of Taiwan's products in the regional economic bloc. 'AmCham welcomes the negotiation of trade agreements with China along the lines of the ECFA now being discussed. Without it, Taiwan products stand to be excluded from the China market, as the regional trade bloc centered on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations expands, ' said AmCham Chairman Alan Eusden at a news conference to release the business organization's annual White Paper. 'The chamber regards such an agreement as an economic necessity that should not be overly politicized,' he added. Since it was first published in 1996, the AmCham White Paper has served to set the basic annual agenda for the chamber's meetings with government agencies on a wide range of economic and business issues. President Ma Ying-jeou has said that an ECFA with China is vital for Taiwan to avoid marginalization in the region and to help regulate the trade and investment relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The proposed ECFA would be similar to a free trade agreement between the two sides. Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council, told a cross-strait forum in Xiamen May 17 that China is willing to start ECFA negotiations with Taiwan as soon as possible. According to the White Paper, AmCham also hopes to see economic connections between Taiwan and the United States advance through the scheduling of talks soon under the bilateral trade and investment framework agreement and by working toward the start of formal negotiations on a bilateral investment agreement. Established in 1951, AmCham, which consists of more than 900 individuals representing more than 500 companies, is the oldest, largest, and the most active foreign-business organization in Taiwan. 