The preliminary legislative review of the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement scheduled for today was temporarily postponed and two more public hearings are to be held instead in response to continuing opposition from the public to the legislature ratifying the agreement.
Academics and representatives of civic groups apprehensive of opening up the nation’s service sector to Chinese investors continued to call for lawmakers to take citizens’ opinions into account through a deliberative democracy process before the agreement is reviewed in the legislature.
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union have voiced support for the demand that the impact on each industry covered by the trade agreement be discussed at a separate public hearing, with business owners and representatives of those employed in the sector invited to talk about their views before the legislative review begins.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) did not agree to the request.
Two separate public hearings were held yesterday by a joint committee led by the Internal Administration Committee, entrusted by the legislature’s plenary session to do a preliminary review of the agreement.
The preliminary review was scheduled for today, but the KMT agreed to postpone the meeting after it turned down a request by the DPP and the TSU that protesters rallying outside the legislature be allowed to be present at yesterday’s public hearing as observers.
A total of 28 representatives from academia, business associations and civic organizations were invited to present their views on the agreement, while Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦), Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) and Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) were also present.
At the hall, which can accommodate hundreds of people, most of the seats were taken by legislative assistants and officials from various departments.
The government signed the agreement with China without consulting affected industries and the public, and now “you mobilized officials and legislative assistants to occupy the seats that were supposed to belong to the people,” DPP Legislator Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) said.
KMT Legislator Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) said that it was against the rules to allow people to attend the meeting unless they have applied to attend beforehand.
At the hearing, several representatives of groups opposing the agreement emphasized the need for lawmakers to listen to people’s opinions.
“We demand that the legislature hold a public hearing specifically for each industry and that all related information be made available before a public hearing is held,” Chung Yuan Christian University associate professor of financial law Hsu Wei-chun (徐偉群) said.
The legislature should enact a law to regulate how the government assesses the impact of trade agreements on the nation and to require the government to present what policy it will adopt for industries covered by a trade pact following its implementation so people can better predict how the liberalization will affect local industries, Hsu said.
Terry Chang (張天立), president of online bookstore TAAZE and founder of books.com.tw, said he doubted that officials involved in the negotiations have a basic understanding of the industries covered by the agreement.
“This is not a trivial thing. I call on officials to reconsider the agreement and politicians in both the blue and the green camps to put away partisanship to work together to protect the country’s publishing industry,” Chang said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but