A large group of Taiwanese-Americans have launched a three-pronged attack on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China, claiming that it is no more than “a fast track toward annexation of Taiwan by China.”
They have sent a joint statement to US President Barack Obama calling on him to urge Taiwan’s government to conduct a public and democratic referendum on an ECFA; they have organized a Washington conference for prominent academics to condemn an ECFA; and they have released a letter from 28 major US supporters of Taiwan to Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) asking him to make a critical review of the proposed agreement.
The joint statement to Obama, backed by 16 of the largest and most influential Taiwanese-American organizations, also asks the president to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Taiwan.
It says that because China may use an ECFA to take over Taiwan, the agreement would ultimately have a negative impact on the US strategic position in East Asia.
“Annexation of Taiwan by the [People’s Republic of China] would deprive the United States of a heretofore reliable ally in the western Pacific,” the statement says. “Since Taiwan straddles the sea lanes that supply materials and energy to South Korea and Japan, the loss of Taiwan would substantially increase the vulnerability of these US allies to China’s coercion.”
In their letter to the speaker, the Taiwan supporters — including former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan Nat Bellocchi and former deputy assistant to the vice president for National Security Affairs Stephen Yates — say they are concerned by the lack of transparency and legislative checks and balances in ECFA negotiations.
“There is no clarity on what the agreement would entail or what impact it would have on Taiwan’s economy, in particular its agriculture, small and medium-sized industries and the labor force,” the letter says. “Many in Taiwan and abroad are also concerned about the impact of closer economic ties on Taiwan’s de facto independence and sovereignty; they feel that closer economic ties will give the government in Beijing leverage to push Taiwan into further political isolation.”
The letter and the statement to Obama were released at the Washington conference of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), which featured presentations by Wu Rong-i (吳榮義), former Taiwanese deputy premier and now president of the Taiwan Braintrust; June Teufel Dreyer, a political scientist at the University of Miami; Arthur Waldron, professor of international relations at the University of Pennsylvania; and Gordon Chang (章家敦), author of The Coming Collapse of China.
Wu warned that Taiwan could be “totally marginalized” by an ECFA and that there was speculation the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wanted to “accelerate” unification with China.
Dreyer said the Ma administration was not telling the truth about all aspects of an ECFA and that it was “doing its very best to obfuscate.”
“While it is saying that [an] ECFA is going to create 100,000 jobs, what it is not telling you is that it may destroy 200,000 jobs,” she said.
Chang said that China’s economy was on a “sugar high” and was full of economic bubbles that were getting ready to burst.
“If Taiwan ties its economy to China through an ECFA, it loses control of its economy,” he said. “If China’s bubbles burst and its economy collapses, as a number of scholars, investors and analysts have said that it might do in the next 12 months, then Taiwan’s economy could crash as well. ECFA is a one-way ticket to economic failure in China.”
Waldron said one problem in dealing with China was that trade and economic relations were not genuinely free — the currency was not convertible, exchange rates were controlled, interest rates were essentially determined.
“If Taiwan signs an agreement in which she places her economic future in the hands of another vast population that is in flux and is ungoverned by any sorts of laws, then she is giving away another piece of her autonomy and her sovereignty,” he said.
“At a minimum, we should call for a full and open discussion of this agreement so that everyone in Taiwan is fully informed of what it says and what it means. But consulting the people of Taiwan is exactly the opposite of what the negotiators want to do,” he said.
Koh Sebo, a spokesman for the Taiwanese-American associations, said that the government in Beijing wanted to use an ECFA as a tool or first step to get Taiwan into the Chinese sphere of influence and put the Taiwanese economy “firmly in the grip of China.”
“If Taiwan becomes an unsinkable aircraft carrier for China the whole western Pacific will be threatened,” he said.
The last word came from FAPA president Bob Yang.
“Members of the US Congress have already referred to ECFA as a ‘Trojan Horse,’ a ‘cage’ and a ‘trap.’ We agree,” he said. “The bottom line is that ECFA is a political tool that masquerades as a trade instrument to achieve China’s ultimate goal of annexing Taiwan.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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