Despite a government promise to protect domestic industries against the dumping of cheap Chinese products, business leaders yesterday accused the government of lacking effective policies to block illegally imported merchandise from China and to protect local industries.
“Although many bedding products from China are banned from being imported into Taiwan, shipment after shipment are smuggled in, and most can be found in supermarkets,” Taiwan Bedding alliance chairman Huang Kuang-yi (黃光藝) told a press conference at the legislature. “The government opened the door, but no one is guarding it.”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安), who accompanied the business leaders at the press conference, said that when the government signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China in June, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) promised to protect traditional industries, which are often in a disadvantaged position.
The ECFA came into force earlier this month.
“However, when we look at the budget for the next fiscal year, the central government’s budget on protecting disadvantaged industries for 2011 is 27 percent lower [than this year],” Pan said. “The government under the leadership of Ma is incapable of blocking the dumping of Chinese merchandise, nor can it actually protect Taiwanese businesses. I wonder if it is trying to help or kill traditional industries.”
Taiwan Ceramic Industries Association consultant Yu Teh-er (游德二) and textile industry operator Hung Kuo-kai (洪國凱) recounted how some businesses were able to import Chinese merchandise without being caught.
“A lot of wholesalers purchase clothing items from China, but since they can’t import clothes from China directly, they register their business in Hong Kong or Macau, and import these Chinese-made clothing items from Hong Kong and Macau,” Yu said. “When shipments of such clothing items come into Taiwan, the tags are altered, but no one is checking them.”
Yu, meanwhile, said ceramic tiles made in China are first shipped to Indonesia and then “imported” into Taiwan.
“Indonesia doesn’t make ceramic tiles, so how can the government check these products if the budgets are cut?” Yu asked.
The previous day, angry bedding makers staged a protest against what they claimed was the government’s failure to stem a tide of illegally imported Chinese-made bedding, which they said was flooding the local market.
Leading the protest outside the Directorate-General of Customs (DGC) in Taipei, Huang asked how Chinese products, which are banned from Taiwan, could be on sale everywhere unless government officials were turning a blind eye.
The protesters proceeded to the Control Yuan to demand an investigation into whether the DGC and the Bureau of Foreign Trade had broken the law by failing to stem the illegal imports.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), who joined the protests, said that before signing the ECFA, the Mainland Affairs Council and other government departments had promised to protect traditional industries, with the council giving assurances that it would “guard the gate closely.”
By allowing banned Chinese goods to flood the market, the government was failing to enforce the law, he said, adding that this was tantamount to tolerance for breaking it, and such a government was not fit to remain in office.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS