The Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee yesterday again turned down a referendum proposal by Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed between Taiwan and China in June last year.
In his third bid, Huang had submitted a referendum proposal asking the question: “Do you agree with the government’s signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China?”
The ECFA, which came into force in September and whose “early harvest” list of items receiving preferential tariff treatment came into effect on Saturday, has been touted as a means to further liberalize cross-strait trade.
However, critics claim it is a trap by Beijing to lure Taiwan into an eventual political merger with China.
Similar proposals were rejected by the Referendum Review Committee on June 3 and Aug. 11 last year on the grounds that the question did not fall under what was permitted in the Referendum Act (公民投票法).
Despite the two previous rejections, Huang submitted the same proposal again last month.
“Supporters and opponents of the referendum proposal debated on whether this proposal was the same as the previous one,” Central Election Commission secretary-general Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐), who doubles as executive secretary of the Referendum Review Committee, said of the two-hour meeting.
“In the end, they put it to a vote and the proposal was turned down by a 10-to-four vote,” Teng said.
According to the Referendum Act, a referendum proposal cannot be made again within three years after it is rejected.
“The rejection shows that the government under the leadership of President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] is against the values of democracy and the will of the people,” Huang said in a statement last night.
“The proposals were endorsed by more than 300,000 citizens and yet the government denies these people the right to speak,” Huang said.
“The government will eventually pay for it,” he added.
“The ECFA will have a huge impact on Taiwan’s economy, politics and society. Government officials — including Ma himself — have always emphasized the importance of the pact,” Huang said. “And yet, the government excludes all forms of public participation in the decision-making. This just isn’t normal [in democratic systems].”
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS