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.
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
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
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,”
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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