Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday criticized the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) for listing information on the disadvantages of the cross-strait service trade agreement as classified and releasing only information it considers favorable to the agreement.
Although President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has repeatedly said that approving the service trade agreement will have more advantages than disadvantages for Taiwanese businesses, DPP lawmakers said the government seems to be hiding certain information that may show the agreement in a disadvantageous light.
“In 2011, before the agreement was signed, the government commissioned the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research to conduct research on the pros and cons of the agreement. The results of that research show that the agreement may lead to the loss of key technologies, stronger competition from China and loss of business ownership,” DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said during a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“That information has been listed as classified and has been hidden from the public,” Tuan said.
In addition, an assessment report on the pact submitted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) concluded that opening the telecommunications industry to China may threaten Taiwan’s national security, but that report has been classified, the lawmaker said.
Tuan also accused the council of hiding poll results that showed 62.9 percent of respondents supported a call by activists who occupied the Legislative Yuan from March 18 to April 12 for the agreement to be renegotiated, and only 23 percent were opposed to it.
“I could understand if you decide to hide information about something advantageous to us during negotiations for the trade pact, but why are you trying to hide from the public what is bad for us?” Tuan said.
“It is also questionable why you are only releasing poll results that are favorable to the government’s stance,” Tuan said.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) asked similar questions.
“I could understand that you may want to hide some information during talks on the trade pact, but it does not make sense that it is still classified now that the pact has been signed,” Lee said.
Responding to the questions, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that the classified information was to be used for reference only within the government.
“We never intended to release the information to the public,” he said.
Wang also said that there was much more undisclosed information showing advantages of the service trade agreement than showing the disadvantages, “but since this data is also for internal reference, we have not released that information either.”
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Cho Shih-chao (卓士昭) said that research produced by academics is only used for internal reference for decisionmaking.
“Academic research is not the only reference used; we also have to talk with business leaders before making a final decision,” the deputy minister said.
However, neither official explained why some poll numbers have been released to the public, while others were not.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS