A group of activists yesterday urged opposition legislators to block the cross-strait service trade agreement, especially the sections that would open Taiwan’s advertising market to Chinese companies.
The activists, mainly from Taiwan Democracy Watch and the Democratic Front Against the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement, proposed 100 changes to the pact and asked lawmakers to help introduce the proposals in the legislature.
They also suggested that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) adopt a filibuster strategy to prevent the agreement from clearing the legislature.
Taiwan Democracy Watch convener Hsu Wei-chun (徐偉群) accused President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration of attempting to make the legislature a rubber stamp for an “under-the-table deal” with China.
The government has not carried out a comprehensive assessment of the agreement’s possible effects on Taiwan and its people, Hsu said.
National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of National Development professor Liu Ching-yi (劉靜怡) said advertising agents could influence the operation of a media outlet’s editorial department by asserting direct and indirect pressure on the media outlet’s business department.
It is a matter of the greatest severity and yet the government is opening the nation’s advertising market to Chinese companies, without carrying out any market assessments and studies of the possible impact on freedom of speech and information, she said, adding that Taiwanese should therefore not agree to opening the nation’s advertising market to Chinese companies.
Taiwan Journalists chairwoman Chen Hsiao-yi (陳曉宜) said China has attempted to interfere with Hong Kong’s media covering through advertising. If Taiwan is to let Chinese capital enter its advertising sector, the nation would risk losing its press freedom, she added.
The agreement, which was signed in June last year, has been stalled in the legislature mainly due to objections from opposition lawmakers, who are concerned that it will hurt the nation’s interests.
Hoping to alleviate doubts and build consensus on the issue, the legislature has been holding a series of hearings on the agreement since September last year and plans to conclude them on Monday next week.
Ma has urged legislators to begin reviewing the agreement soon after the last hearing and approve the pact before the current legislative session ends in June.
However, the DPP’s Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), a convener of the legislature’s interior affairs committee, said yesterday that the legislature would allow full discussion of all related issues and has not set a time frame for passage of the agreement.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
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