President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday defined the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) as a major economic strategy to connect Taiwan with the world and said an ECFA would bring more economic cooperation between Taiwan and other countries.
“The economic pact Taiwan will sign with China is a major economic strategy. It will lead Taiwan to stop shutting doors and instead connect with the world,” Ma said at Taipei County’s Hsiu Lang Elementary School as part of his nation-wide tour to drum up support for the pact.
Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫), Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-Shiang (施顏祥) and officials from the Council of Agriculture, the Council of Labor Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council also attended the event.
PHOTO: PAN HSING-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES
The Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Strait completed a second round of negotiations on an ECFA in Taoyuan last month and are scheduled to hold the next round in China at the end of this month.
The Ma administration hopes to sign an ECFA in June.
Insisting that an ECFA would have a positive impact on Taiwan’s economy, Ma said that after signing an ECFA, other countries — including Japan and the US — would follow China’s example to strengthen economic cooperation with Taiwan.
Ma again promised not to allow more Chinese agricultural products into the local market and to maintain a ban on Chinese labor workers in Taiwan.
In response to calls by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to hold a referendum on an ECFA, Ma said that while he did not oppose the idea, the government had no authority to initiate a proposal to hold a referendum.
“We will let the legislature oversee the cross-strait economic pact and make the process transparent,” he said.
Challenges over the government’s signing of an ECFA, however, continued as former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday accused the Ma administration of ignoring public opposition and criticized its acceptance of Beijing’s version of the trade pact at the negotiations.
“I ask President Ma: Where is your proposal? How is it a negotiation when we don’t have a proposal and embrace China’s version instead?” he asked at the opening ceremony of a Lee Teng-hui School in Taipei County.
Lee rebutted Ma’s argument that signing an ECFA would help Taiwan sign free-trade agreements with other countries, adding that Taiwan should negotiate economic pacts with other countries as a member of the WTO.
He also said China was using an ECFA to unify Taiwan, urging the government not to fully depend on China.
“Economic cooperation is only the first step after signing an ECFA. Cultural and educational exchanges will follow — and then the politics. This is how China would eventually swallow Taiwan,” Lee said.
Other critics say the trade agreement would cause massive unemployment in Taiwan, make it too economically dependent on China and lead to an influx of Chinese capital and goods.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is scheduled to debate Ma on an ECFA on April 25.
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