Protesters are planning a rally next month against a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China and to drum up support for a nationwide referendum on the controversial pact.
Speaking for a number of pro-independence organizations, Michelle Wang (王美琇), an official at the Taiwan Rescue Action Alliance, said that large-scale demonstrations would be “inevitable” if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) continued to ignore demands that the pact be subject to greater scrutiny.
Government watchdog group Citizen Congress Watch said on Friday that unless the government agreed to turn over some of its information on the ongoing ECFA negotiations with China to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would head into this month’s debate on the pact “with her eyes closed.”
The Presidential Office has so far rebuffed DPP requests for more details on the “early harvest” lists proposed separately by Taiwan and China, the content to be included in the pact or government studies on the impact of an ECFA.
In an interview in Kaohsiung County on Saturday, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) also criticized the closed-door negotiations between Taiwanese and Chinese negotiators in Taoyuan County late last month.
She called on the government to halt further talks on the agreement until after the debate on April 25 between the president and Tsai, after reports said the third round of talks could take place by the end of the month.
Any more negotiations held with China that did not take into consideration the concerns of the opposition party would be “without meaning,” she said.
While Wang said that a date for the planned protest had yet to be decided, it would most likely be held during the middle or end of next month.
She said she was confident there would be a substantial turnout of concerned citizens.
However, media yesterday quoted sources as saying that the protests could be held on May 20, the second anniversary of the president’s inauguration.
The government has said that it hopes to wrap up negotiations and sign the agreement before June.
Meanwhile, although the DPP has yet to say whether it would support a planned rally, DPP spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said that rallies against an ECFA were still under consideration, as “anything is possible.”
“If Ma’s administration continues to neglect public opinion, engage in secret government policies and ... signs the agreement unilaterally, people will essentially be forced onto the streets to [voice their protest],” he said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS