Experts are optimistic about the negotiations and said the agreement is very likely to be signed in the first half of next year. "It should be in the first half of 2010 since later will be the elections for special municipalities heads, and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party will try to draw attention by setting obstacles and repeating its stance that the ECFA hurts Taiwan's 'sovereignty'" said Wu Nengyuan, director of the institute of Taiwan studies at the Fujian Academy of Social Sciences. Full Article at People's Daily Online