The cross-strait service trade agreement, which President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has promoted so vigorously, has been widely questioned by the public and sparked the Sunflower movement.
Most criticism is on democratic issues, such as violations of procedural justice and public oversight. However, since the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between Taiwan and China in 2010, all cross-strait agreements have involved not only democratic issues, but also human rights.
The petition against the service trade agreement and the recent commodification of healthcare affects the public’s right to medical care.
Rights to health and an education are basic human rights and protecting them should be the government’s priority, after collecting taxes. They give everyone an equal foothold and let individuals flourish while also moving the goals of society toward fairness and wealth equality.
This is why the government should not commercialize healthcare and education and refrain from including them in the service trade agreement or the “free economic pilot zones.”
Perceptive people have commented that the inclusion of international healthcare services in the pilot zones may lead to the commodification of services and an outflow of key medical workers. Also, the Ministry of Education has proposed a draft for innovation in education, which includes setting up special universities and academies in the zones, but that plan has drawn protests from several educational groups opposed to the commodification of education.
The printing industry worries that opening up to China will affect freedom of speech. Also, the agreement opens the telecom sector, including information and communication infrastructure, which could compromise security, press freedom, freedom of expression on the Internet and national security.
Close attention must be paid to threats to other rights that might be hurt by Chinese capital, such as the right to work, survival — especially for the agricultural population and disadvantaged groups — equality and privacy as well as environmental rights.
Taiwan is a new democracy. The government must thoroughly review any agreements or treaties that it intends to sign with China, an authoritarian state that lacks all respect for human rights, so as not to damage the nation’s political system or the human rights of Taiwanese. If a cross-strait agreement merely benefits a few large corporations, such as the Hon Hai Group, whose chairman, Terry Gou (郭台銘), has said that “democracy fills no stomachs,” it violates principles of fairness and justice and further widens the wealth gap.
History reveals that as democracy takes root, it is necessary to push hard for human rights. For future cross-strait agreements, elected public representatives and civic groups should review content carefully, rejecting any agreement that violates democracy or human rights.
If the legislature cannot amend an agreement, it should demand the government not sign it.
Andrew Cheng is a researcher at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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