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.
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