"The bottom line for the government for signing the ECFA is that there must be no further opening of the local market to Chinese agricultural products, " Shih said while reporting to the Legislative Yuan on the ECFA.

Taiwan at present allows imports of around 2,000 Chinese agricultural products, and officials have repeatedly vowed not to open the market wider for a remaining 800-odd Chinese farm products.

During his report, Shih rejected a demand by opposition Legislator Su Chen-ching to "keep the domestic market closed to Chinese farm goods permanently, or at least until the end of his tenure." "I will not promise that those Chinese agricultural goods will be banned permanently, but what I can say now is that the longer the ban remains, the better it will be for local farmers," he added.

He said that during their new round of talks scheduled to take place in the Central Taiwan city of Taichung next month, negotiators from the two sides of the strait are expected to start dialogue on the ECFA, but added that it will not be inked before the fifth round of cross-strait talks are held.

He said it is still unclear when the fifth round will take place, but added that the government "will try its best to have the ECFA signed in the first half of next year." On whether China will agree to Taiwan's insistence (on denying access to the local market by Chinese agricultural goods), Shih said that while he could not answer the question on China's behalf, he believes the Chinese side will understand that "it's a Taiwanese government promise to its people and talks on the ECFA issue will not be able to go further if the promise is not honored." The ECFA, once signed, will still have to get approval from the legislature before it can go into effect, according to Shih.

"The negotiators will have to return to the negotiating table should Taiwan's legislature refuse to endorse the pact," he added.

The ECFA, a cross-strait version of the free trade agreements signed between trade partners elsewhere in the world, is opposed by the opposition camp, which fears a possible negative impact on the country's economy.

(By Tang Pei-chun and Bear Lee)