President Ma Ying-jeou said Thursday his administration has been actively promoting the signing of a wide-reaching trade pact with China to help upgrade Taiwan's national competitiveness through participation in regional integration. Such efforts, however, have met strong objection from the opposition camp, led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), as it worries that the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) may lead to Taiwan's overreliance on the Chinese market, Ma said while meeting with Michael Porter, a leading authority in corporate strategy. According to a Presidential Office official present at the meeting, Ma briefed the visiting American management guru on the strategic and economic significance to Taiwan of the proposed cross-Taiwan Strait ECFA, seen as a scaled-back free trade agreement. After listening to Ma's briefing, Porter expressed support for the ECFA initiative and endorsed Ma's views on the pact's value to Taiwan, the official said. During their meeting, Ma also outlined strategies 'with Taiwanese characteristics' to accelerate the country's economic recovery that will contribute to Taiwan's goals of achieving high job growth, industrial innovation, energy conservation and carbon reduction, as well as participation in regional economic integration. As the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are still in talks on the pact, Ma solicited Porter's opinions on whether his administration's present strategy can effectively help upgrade Taiwan's competitive edge and which aspects could be improved or amended, the official said. Porter was scheduled to deliver a speech later Thursday in which he was expected to emphasize the importance of regional integration to economic development and to present his views on the challenges that Taiwan may face this year and how the country can create a win-win scenario in the development of cross-strait relations, the official said. 