Sat, Jun 30, 2007 page8

• Ma's man just doesn't understand the issues

  • By Wu Chih-Chung 吳志中
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  On Monday, Chinese-language newspapers quoted Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) as saying that "there are 25 European Union nations and the passports of the citizens of every EU member state give them the right to free movement in the EU, but they cannot work in another country."

  It seems Siew doesn't fully grasp the inner workings of the EU.

  First, this year the EU gained two new members, Bulgaria and Romania, which puts the total number of EU member states at 27.

  Second, economic integration in the EU is built on the basic premise that the 27 sovereign member states all recognize each other and the need to build mutual relationships based on equality and cooperation. They are not permitted to be hostile to each other, which is why they can cooperate on the establishment of a joint European army.

  In contrast, China at present has deployed more than 800 ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan on its southern coast and refuses to recognize the Taiwanese government. China's hostile cross-strait policies will make it very difficult to build a cross-strait common market.

  Third, the Maastricht Treaty signed by all EU member states gives EU citizens the fundamental rights to move freely, work and live anywhere in the EU.

  The title of Article II-75 in the draft EU constitution mandates the "freedom to choose an occupation and right to engage in work."

  Item 2 of the text reads: "Every citizen of the Union has the freedom to seek employment, to work, to exercise the right of establishment and to provide services in any Member State."

  With the entry of 10 Eastern European nations into the EU in 2004, the lower wage levels in these countries resulted in workers using the right to freedom of movement to move to Germany, France, Italy and other countries with higher standards of living.

  At the time, France began seriously debating what was said to be the phenomenon of "Paris being flooded by Polish plumbers."

  Many of the workers from the Eastern European member states not only competed with French workers by accepting lower wages, but they also evaded taxes and this caused much disgruntlement among French workers.

  The differences in salary structure between Taiwan and China is much greater than the differences between the countries in Eastern and Western Europe. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, in 2005 more than 1,000 workers in the EU textile industry lost their jobs every day because the EU removed the import restrictions on Chinese textile products.

  Since Taiwanese and Chinese share the same language and because the two governments have no negotiation mechanism to manage the situation, the creation of a cross-strait common market would lead to a great influx of people from China using the right to free movement to come to Taiwan to work.

  Given the lower salary requirements of Chinese workers, salaries in Taiwan would probably plummet, or, in the best-case scenario, would be highly unlikely to rise.

  With jobs going to those who were willing to accept lower salaries, one can only wonder what impact Taiwanese unemployment would have on social stability.

  For these reasons, it seems quite clear that we should give careful thought to Siew's suggestion for a cross-strait common market.

  Wu Chih-chung is secretary-general of the European Union Study Association in Taiwan.

  Translated by Lin Ya-ti
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Land warning issued for Typhoon Usagi

  • 2

    Storm weakens, but warning still in force

  • 3

    MAC ‘fully aware’ of reports Bo Xilai’s son is in Taiwan

  • 4

    PRC threatens regional stability: Taipei

  • 5

    Taiwan to attend China APEC summit: official