In a strongly worded letter to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), publisher Rex How (郝明義) resigned as an adviser to Ma, whom he said was either an “autocrat” or was “impossibly stupid.”
How, chairman of Locus Publishing Co (大塊文化), who has been pushing for the government to renegotiate a cross-strait service trade agreement signed on June 21, said he was resigning because of the way the president had dealt with those who oppose the agreement.
The past month has seen growing opposition to the agreement from people from all walks of life, but Ma’s response has shown that not only is he “biased” against those who oppose the agreement, but he also has a “wrong understanding of three fundamental issues” that are vital to national interests, How said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Ma was “derelict in his duty” because he did not take seriously criticism of the agreement, which could deprive people of their property and livelihood, having failed to conduct an assessment of the impact of the agreement on the nation’s economy, society and security before it was signed, he said.
How said he had advised Ma two years ago that China is not an ordinary signatory to the WTO, but a country that has more than 1,000 missiles targeting Taiwan.
How added that Ma also took notes when he advised him in 2009 that the government should handle cross-strait negotiations in a public and transparent way, and tell the opposition parties about these negotiations so that they can form a consensus and get their endorsement.
“The truth about cross-strait ties is the two sides are in a state of war,” but money has replaced artillery shells in this war, he said.
Cross-strait policy is a “matter of life and death” and the government should not ignore national security in handling cross-strait agreements, he said.
Ma has also failed to recognize the seriousness of signing an agreement through backroom negotiations, which places the Ma administration in opposition to “decades or efforts to promote democracy in this nation,” he said.
The way the government signed the agreement with China on service trade — which contributes about 70 percent to the nation’s GDP and provides employment to about 4 million to 5 million people — without discussing it first with the legislature has “seriously undermined the convictions and values in a democracy, and violated due process that an elected government should observe,” How said.
He added that the Ma administration has avoided questions about the agreement — who were behind the negotiations, how were the industries selected and what was discussed in the negotiations?
“Having an agreement like this, which has caused such fierce controversy, we only knew who signed off on it, nothing more,” he said. “No one has ever told us who was the mastermind, what was the strategic thinking it was based on.”
How said that he could only think of two possibilities — Ma is either an “autocrat” or “impossibly stupid” — to have signed such an agreement, which could endanger the nation’s 23 million people and only increase economic growth by a marginal 0.025 to 0.034 percent, as an official report has predicted.
How reiterated that the president must either be an “autocrat” or “impossibly stupid” to have said that criticism of the pact is deliberately facricated rumors.
How made public his letter of resignation when he attended a public hearing hosted by a joint committee led by the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee. The agreement is pending ratification to take effect.
The government has warned opposition lawmakers not to revise the agreement during the deliberation, saying that any changes made to the pact could derail ongoing negotiations on similar trade agreements with other countries.
How said that responsibility for any controversy arising from the signing of the agreement, for any damage that could undermine the nation if the legislature were to demand that the government renegotiate the pact with China, and for other fallout resulting from a delay in implementation of the agreement “all lie with you [Ma].”
They could have been avoided if the government had made the negotiation process transparent and had thoroughly communicated with affected industries in advance as well as assessed its impact on national security, he said.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan
RSS