After Taiwan and China sign an economic cooperation and framework agreement (ECFA), WTO regulations require that a free-trade agreement (FTA) be signed within 10 years.
In addition to tariff exemptions, an FTA requires the signatories to deregulate their service industries, including the retail, wholesale, food and beverage, tourism, hotel, entertainment, media, bank, insurance, communications, transport, health, education, consulting and brokerage industries. This could give rise to an influx of Chinese service industry manpower in Taiwan.
In short, the signing of an FTA will mean a substantial opening up of Taiwan to the Chinese labor market. In addition to the inflow of Chinese capital, Chinese workers will also flood Taiwan. Taiwan and China will, in practice, move to the “common market stage” of economic integration and form a “one China common market.”
There are four main differences between a common Chinese market and the EU. EU member states recognize each other’s sovereignty, while China sees Taiwan as part of its national territory; EU states have a common defense policy, while China has missiles pointed at Taiwan; key EU member states are of approximate size and no country can monopolize the organization, while China is much bigger than Taiwan and will dominate a common Chinese market; and the EU is made up of democratic states, while China is a dictatorship where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the government.
After adopting capitalism, the CCP has perpetuated its control of the Chinese government, legislation and judiciary, interferes with markets, leads the distribution of benefits and directs corporations, and then uses corporate control to direct media and public opinion in order to achieve its political goals.
To simplify his rule, the Qin (秦) emperor relocated the rich and powerful to undermine their power base. Today, an ECFA and an FTA will push Taiwanese businesspeople to move to China and usher in Chinese capital to Taiwan. These agreements will also introduce significant change, causing a great outflow of Taiwanese labor and a large-scale invasion of Chinese. Chinese and Chinese interest groups in Taiwan are sure to become a force to be reckoned with, and under the CCP’s direction, they will become the key force — just as they are in Tibet and Xinjiang.
With the power to direct the common Chinese market, it will be easy for China to use its control over businesses to influence the interests of Taiwanese corporations and order around Taiwanese businesspeople, enterprises and media around until they are scared into silence, thus restricting freedom of expression and dissemination of public information. The next step will be to control Taiwan’s elections at all levels and to direct Taiwanese politicians toward emulating China’s Taiwan policy. This is how they will annex Taiwan without wasting the life of a single soldier.
The main point of the ECFA is not capitalism or the best interests of the working class. ECFA is but another name for the promise of a common Chinese market and one China. It is a contract to sell Taiwan.
Lin Kien-tsu is a member of the Taiwan Association of University Professors.
TRANSLATED BY PERRY SVENSSON
I came to Taiwan to pursue my degree thinking that Taiwanese are “friendly,” but I was welcomed by Taiwanese classmates laughing at my friend’s name, Maria (瑪莉亞). At the time, I could not understand why they were mocking the name of Jesus’ mother. Later, I learned that “Maria” had become a stereotype — a shorthand for Filipino migrant workers. That was because many Filipino women in Taiwan, especially those who became house helpers, happen to have that name. With the rapidly increasing number of foreigners coming to Taiwan to work or study, more Taiwanese are interacting, socializing and forming relationships with
Earlier signs suggest that US President Donald Trump’s policy on Taiwan is set to move in a more resolute direction, as his administration begins to take a tougher approach toward America’s main challenger at the global level, China. Despite its deepening economic woes, China continues to flex its muscles, including conducting provocative military drills off Taiwan, Australia and Vietnam recently. A recent Trump-signed memorandum on America’s investment policy was more about the China threat than about anything else. Singling out the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a foreign adversary directing investments in American companies to obtain cutting-edge technologies, it said
The recent termination of Tibetan-language broadcasts by Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a significant setback for Tibetans both in Tibet and across the global diaspora. The broadcasts have long served as a vital lifeline, providing uncensored news, cultural preservation and a sense of connection for a community often isolated by geopolitical realities. For Tibetans living under Chinese rule, access to independent information is severely restricted. The Chinese government tightly controls media and censors content that challenges its narrative. VOA and RFA broadcasts have been among the few sources of uncensored news available to Tibetans, offering insights
Two weeks ago, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) raised hackles in Taiwan by posting to her 2.6 million Instagram followers that she was visiting “Taipei, China.” Yeoh’s post continues a long-standing trend of Chinese propaganda that spreads disinformation about Taiwan’s political status and geography, aimed at deceiving the world into supporting its illegitimate claims to Taiwan, which is not and has never been part of China. Taiwan must respond to this blatant act of cognitive warfare. Failure to respond merely cedes ground to China to continue its efforts to conquer Taiwan in the global consciousness to justify an invasion. Taiwan’s government
RSS