The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday completed the first stage of its application to hold a referendum, delivering 150,000 signatures petitioning for a referendum on the government’s planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China to the Central Election Committee’s Referendum Review Committee.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the government should not seek to boycott or delay the referendum.
“The government would pay a serious price if it did so,” Tsai told a press conference yesterday held with Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) and former Examination Yuan president Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文).
The DPP worked with the TSU and pro-independence groups in obtaining the signatures for the referendum.
The Referendum Act (公民投票法) stipulates that the signatures of 0.5 percent of eligible voters — about 80,000 people — must be collected to apply to hold a referendum. In the second application stage, 5 percent of eligible voters — about 800,000 — must sign a petition before the proposed referendum can be screened by the Referendum Review Committee.
“We realize the referendum law is flawed, with such a high threshold for a referendum, and that collecting 1 million signatures is a tremendous challenge for the party,” Tsai said, but she added that the DPP would collect the 1 million signatures to make the referendum happen.
Arguing that signing an ECFA would change Taiwan’s future politically, economically, socially and culturally, Tsai said that at its core the economic treaty with China concerned Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Unlike what President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) claimed, the ECFA cannot be separated from the sovereignty issue, she said.
In its referendum proposal, the DPP said that because holding referendums to decide on significant national affairs was a growing trend internationally and that because signing an ECFA with China would have a serious impact on Taiwan’s future, the government should agree to hold the referendum.
Ma has said on numerous occasions that he opposes a referendum on an ECFA, saying it is unnecessary because no political items would be included in the agreement.
Ma’s policies on China have been the least transparent of his administration, Tsai said yesterday, adding that she had never seen a government refusing to face the public to such a degree.
Many of Ma’s policies on China are made without public discussion and legislative review, including opening Taiwan to Chinese investment, she said.
“When Ma told the public that signing an ECFA with China was significant and an emergency, he never saw fit to elaborate on the process of signing it and hasn’t elaborated on the content and purpose of such an agreement,” Tsai said.
When an administration fails to govern well, the people should uphold their right to make decisions or pass judgment on significant national affairs, Tsai said, calling on the public not to abandon the right to vote on the ECFA.
At a separate setting yesterday, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) said of the referendum that “it would be a waste of government resources for the opposition party … since the benefits are already obvious to country’s business community.”
Deng, however, said it was the right of any opposition party to voice its opinion and use legal processes to express its views.
The ministry yesterday launched a series of cartoons to explain the doctrines of an ECFA, which it will distribute as brochures at various government-planned meetings throughout the country.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ELIZABETH TCHII
REACHING OUT: President Tsai expressed condolences to the deceased man’s family and wished a speedy recovery to those who were wounded in the shooting The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) on Monday called on the US to label organizations associated with the suspect in the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church shooting as domestic terrorists, following accusations that he was a member of a group backing unification with ties to the Chinese government. David Wenwei Chou (周文偉), 68, was arrested on Sunday and is being held in lieu of US$1 million bail at the Orange County Intake Release Center over a mass shooting at the California church that left one dead and five wounded. Local police suspect the shooting was politically motivated after they found notes in
NO CONSENSUS YET: Local governments and the CECC have agreed to change the ‘3+4’ self-isolation policy, but are still mulling what to replace it with The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) and local governments have agreed to ease restrictions on close contacts of COVID-19 cases, although the details are still being discussed, the center said yesterday. The discussions follow Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Saturday approving a proposal to shorten the “3+4” policy — three days of home isolation followed by four days of self-disease prevention — for close contacts who have received booster doses. “We did not reach a consensus on how to revise the current restrictions, but we all agreed that the administrative burden must be reduced and the intensity of restrictions must be eased,
OPPOSING CHINESE ‘HOSTILITY’: The bill orders the state secretary to create a plan to regain observer status for Taiwan, saying Taipei is a model contributor to world health US President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bill into law to help Taiwan regain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA), demonstrating Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. Friday was the deadline for Biden to sign the bill (S.812), which directs “the Secretary of State to develop a strategy to regain observer status for Taiwan in the World Health Organization (WHO), and for other purposes.” The 75th WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, is scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, from Sunday next week to May 28. The bill, introduced by US Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the US Senate
‘DAMOCLES SWORD’: An Italian missionary said the arrest of cardinal Zen is a blow for the church in Hong Kong, China and the world, signaling great danger ahead China yesterday defended the arrest of a 90-year-old Catholic cardinal under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, a move that triggered international outrage and deepened concerns over Beijing’s crackdown on freedoms in the territory. Retired cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Asia, was among a group of veteran democracy advocates arrested on Wednesday for “colluding with foreign forces.” Pop singer Denise Ho (何韻詩), veteran barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀) and cultural studies academic Hui Po-keung (許寶強) were also arrested, the latter as he attempted to fly to Europe to take up an academic post. Cyd Ho (何秀蘭), a democracy
RSS