Several pan-green civic groups yesterday challenged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and other government officials to an open debate tomorrow on the topic of a government-proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
The government has urged the public not to oppose the planned trade deal before the details have been disclosed, “but this is ridiculous because opposing something we don’t know is our way of protesting against tyranny,” Taiwan Society director Janice Chen (陳昭姿) told a press conference yesterday.
A protest against the government’s attitude on an ECFA is scheduled to be held tomorrow at 1pm on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office. Organizers said protesters would voice their concerns in a peaceful manner.
Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy secretary-general Chen Yu-hsin (陳雨鑫) said he suspected the government would proceed to sign an ECFA with Beijing, with or without public consent — a repeat of what the Ma administration did when it signed a protocol with Washington on US beef imports.
“The stage has been set and the invitation has been issued. We are urging Ma not to be afraid to face public scrutiny,” Janice Chen said.
The Taiwan Society said several economic experts would also be at the event to elaborate the negative impacts an ECFA would have on Taiwan.
The invitation to Ma was sent to Presidential Office personnel. As of press time, the president had not responded. Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and the Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Mao-lin (施茂林) were also invited, but have not responded.
Chen said policy makers had the obligation to explain to the public important agreements, adding that their unwillingness to face the public was a sign of incompetence.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
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