President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised to make good on his campaign promises, stressing that if a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement were signed between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, there would be no influx of Chinese workers, imports of agricultural products from China would not increase and Chinese students would not be permitted to obtain professional licenses in Taiwan.
Ma made the remarks in an interview with the Taipei Times.
While it was important to normalize the nation’s trade and economic relationship with China, normalization did not necessarily mean allowing Chinese workers or more Chinese agricultural products to enter the domestic market, nor would Chinese students be permitted to sit national examinations to obtain professional licenses, Ma said.
As the ASEAN Plus One cooperation framework is set to take effect soon, Ma said it was important to ink a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement with China, but promised to take the interests of domestic industries into consideration should such a pact be signed.
The president said his administration welcomed suggestions concerning the content of the pact and its format, but ruled out holding a referendum to solicit public consensus on the issue.
“A referendum is one option, but it is not the only option,” he said. “It is time-consuming and expensive.”
Ma said that a referendum would cost an estimated NT$300 million (US$8.8 million) to NT$500 million, and also take time to publicize.
More importantly, he said, the thresholds for a referendum are so high that not many referendums had succeeded in the past.
“If the government were to hold a referendum to decide every major policy, it would be very hard for the government to operate,” he said.
“We simply cannot hold a referendum because some people are against a government initiative,” Ma said.
Opinion polls might be a better solution, as long as they were conducted in a modern and scientific manner, Ma said.
More than one opinion poll would have to be conducted by different institutions over a period of time, he said.
Once a cooperation agreement with China has been signed, Ma said, it should proceed to the legislature for approval.
Article 5 of the Act Governing Relations between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) states that all treaties that require legal revision or legislation must be reviewed by the legislature. Those that do not require revision or legislation must be ratified by the legislature.
Ma said he had no problem inking the agreement under the “one China” framework, because “one China” refers to the Republic of China (ROC), the official title of Taiwan.
Asked whether his interpretation conformed to the international reality, Ma said: “If we do not interpret it this way, do you think we should say the ‘one China’ refers to the People’s Republic of China?”
That is the only interpretation according to the ROC Constitution, he said.
Asked whether the ROC Constitution was still suitable for Taiwan, Ma said: “Of course it is,” adding that it had been amended seven times and there was no doubt that the ROC Constitution cannot be implemented in China.
However, Ma acknowledged that not many countries felt the same way.
“As long as there are 23 countries that recognize us, and we also have substantive ties with other countries, we can survive,” he said.
Ma denied that Taiwan’s sovereignty may have been compromised when agreements were signed with Beijing last year, implying that no supplementary plans needed to be made when negotiating with Beijing on the economic pact.
He also dismissed the claim that Beijing’s diplomatic partners consider Taiwan to be part of China because they tend to say they “acknowledge,” “take note of” or “understand and respect” China’s claim, but never say they accept Taiwan’s sovereignty.
“Although they do not recognize us, they do not deny our existence either,” he said. “Our survival does not depend on changing the name of the country, but on our might and competitiveness.”
Editor’s note: The full content of the interview will be published tomorrow.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
RSS