Local business representatives yesterday urged the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to hold a referendum on the signing of an economic pact with Beijing, saying they were against signing the planned accord under the “one China” principle.
Taiwan Friends Association president Hwang Kun-hu (黃崑虎) threatened to stage a demonstration to protest the planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) if the government turned a deaf ear to their concerns.
As Ma has expressed the hope to see results by the end of the year, Hwang yesterday urged the administration to make public and explain details of the planned accord as soon as possible.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Hwang called on the government to allow more businesses to participate in discussions and debates over the planned accord.
The decision-making process must also be supervised by the legislature, he said.
“The government will become an autocratic one if it refuses to make public the content and let the legislature examine it,” he said.
Since Ma came into office in May, Hwang said, he has made an all-out effort to lean toward China and cooperate with Beijing to push their joint political agenda.
Hwang criticized the administration for deceiving Taiwanese, adding that the planned agreement would only make the unemployment situation worse.
Association honorary chairman and former presidential adviser Koo Kuan-min (辜寬敏) agreed, saying he fully opposed the pact because of its negative impact on employment in Taiwan.
Koo said many people worry that Taiwan’s sovereignty is being undermined after the two sides signed agreements to launch direct transportation links last year.
Some businesses could benefit from an ECFA, Koo said, but by and large it would cause more harm than good to most businesses and the public.
This is why the government must publicize the details of the economic deal, he said.
Rice farmer Huang Kun-bin (黃崑濱) urged the government to care for farmers because they fed people from all walks of life. Once the deal was signed, Huang said he was afraid local industries would go out of business because they could not compete with cheap Chinese competitors.
You Te-erh (游德二), who is in the ceramics industry, said it would make more sense to sign free-trade agreements (FTA) with other countries because 40 percent of the country’s exports already went to China. The economic pact would only lead to more economic dependence on China, he said.
If Beijing wanted to show goodwill, it should allow Taiwan to sign FTAs with other countries, he said. He also urged China to respect the country’s will regarding the name used for the economic agreement, adding that the issue must be clearly spelled out at the negotiation table.
The government must also map out a well-thought-out plan to compensate for losses in other industries resulting from the agreement, he said.
Tea farmer Chen Tsung-chien (陳聰鑑) said the government was in no position to sign any agreement with any country because so far it had failed to deal with the impact of the country’s accession to the WTO.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS