The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that recent public comments by government officials on a planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China have fallen short of initial claims made about its benefits.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration plans to sign an ECFA as early as next month, pending the next round of cross-strait negotiations.
The government expects the agreement — which will lower trade barriers and tariffs on a number of goods, details of which have yet to be announced — to boost Taiwan’s economy.
However, the DPP has argued that the government has not remained consistent on the claims, citing comments recently made by Ma that differed with earlier information on what the agreement would entail.
Information provided by the DPP shows that the president said in early February that the three main components of an ECFA would comprise tariff agreements, investment protection mechanisms and intellectual property protection.
In the debate with DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) earlier this month, Ma backtracked on those comments and acknowledged that investment protection mechanisms would be included in an ECFA only in name, while the actual content of those mechanisms would be subject to further negotiation.
Meanwhile, the DPP also said that the government has also backtracked on earlier promises to include petrochemicals and automobile parts in the “early harvest” list of sectors subject to immediate tariff reductions with China.
The Chinese-language Want Daily quoted unnamed government officials earlier this month as saying that the inclusion of a number of the products on the list has been strongly opposed by Beijing.
DPP spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) accused the government of first exaggerating the benefits of an ECFA and then downplaying the issues the closer it gets to signing the agreement.
“An ECFA will never live up to the government’s claims. Instead, as has been seen through the negotiation phase, it is full of problems and uncertainty,” Tsai said.
Opposition parties and labor groups have expressed concern that the agreement could flood Taiwan with cheap Chinese goods, impacting small businesses and traditional industries.
A sit-in protest over an ECFA, organized by pro-independence groups, is scheduled to take place in front of the legislature for three days starting on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday established a task force to deal with the negative consequences an ECFA could bring the city.
Chen told the city council that the central government had been oblivious to the concerns of the DPP and businesspeople about laborers’ rights and the nation’s sovereignty if the nation signs an ECFA with China.
Chen said she was very worried about the impact the proposed ECFA might have on the city, adding that she had instructed Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te (李永得) to organize a task force composed of city government officials who are experts in finance, economics and labor affairs.
The task force would be responsible for proposing measures to help city residents cope with the impact of an ECFA, she said.
Chen said the city government would establish an ECFA-related fund to take care of workers in Kaohsiung whose livelihoods might be threatened by the pact.
Kaohsiung City Government Labor Bureau Director-General Chung Kung-chao (鍾孔炤) told the council that farmers and employees in the steel industry in Greater Kaohsiung — a planned merger between the city and Kaohsiung County — could suffer the most from the proposed ECFA.
Chung expressed concern that the nation’s unemployment rate could hit 10 percent after the pact is signed.
However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Po-lin (黃柏霖) questioned the validity of the statistics.
In related developments, during a conference held by the think tank Taiwan Competitiveness Forum in Taipei, former DPP legislator and political commentator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) criticized the rationale behind Ma’s cross-strait policy as “outdated.”
“The rationale is that we have to rely on China for everything, but it is not necessarily appropriate to apply the outdated rationale to modern [Taiwanese] society,” Lin said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
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