A proposed cross-Taiwan Strait trade pact will be a 'gradual opening' that minimizes the damage and the government firmly believes that the pact provides more benefits than disadvantages, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said Tuesday. Any policy will have its negative impact, but if the government is convinced that the policy will provide more benefits, the policy is worth trying, said Kao Charng, MAC deputy chairman. An Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China will definitely have its positive and negative impacts on local industries and the government will implement a series of measures to compensate disadvantaged sectors and businesses following the signing of the agreement, Kao told around 100 exporters and importers from Taipei City in a keynote speech. Most ECFA criticism, which focuses on the possible damage to local small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) , job losses and an influx of Chinese products and labor are 'out of context, ' according to Kao. Underlining the importance of Taiwan embracing the global trend of trade liberalization and open markets, Kao said that Taiwan will try to sign free trade agreements with other countries even if it does not sign the ECFA with China. The ECFA is not a free trade agreement, under which the signatories are required to fully open their markets after the agreement takes effect, he said, adding that Taiwan and China have agreed in principle to an approach of 'gradual opening' of their markets. That means for both sides that markets of those sectors listed on an 'early harvest' list will be open to each other, while the remaining sectors will be protected until future negotiations, Kao said. Therefore, he went on, an import ban of more than 800 Chinese agricultural products will not be lifted, nor will Chinese laborers be allowed to work in Taiwan. The government has not ignored the fact that certain SMEs will suffer from the pact, and it has planned measures to protect those who suffer, with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) allocating a budget of NT$95 billion over 10 years for compensation for disadvantaged industries and workers who lose their jobs, Kao said. The opposition has accused the government of failing to explain to the public the details about the agreement and Kao acknowledged this, but said that 'the reason why the ECFA is hard to explain is because it is still under study and the bilateral negotiation has not even started yet.' Kao described the ECFA as a 'framework' that focuses on the principles of market opening and tariff elimination, similar to an index of a book with the contents waiting to be filled out. The government is concerned about Taiwanese businesses' capacity to withstand a full opening and is determined to open its market 'phase by phase' to give local businesses more time to prepare for an open market, he said. The negotiation process of the ECFA is similar to that of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China talks, Kao went on. It took two years for ASEAN and China to sign their agreement and four years to sign the service agreement after the signing of a framework agreement in 2002. Instead of sitting and watching Taiwan's competitors, such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore, gain competitive edges with their aggressive approaches in the regional economic integration, the government still believes it should keep going forward, Kao said. 'We cannot afford to close the door and do nothing simply because some SMEs that focus on domestic markets will suffer from Taiwan's participation in the regional integration, ' he said. 