The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s proposed trade agreement with China could seriously undermine Taiwan’s economic competitiveness, speakers at a conference in Taipei said yesterday.
“Taiwan’s manufacturing industry is already a hollow shell. The [proposed] economic cooperation framework agreement [ECFA] will further increase China’s economic advantages relative to Taiwan,” said John Tkacik, a retired US diplomat and former Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. “This problem is what former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) tried to avoid, but has now become a fact ... the independence of Taiwan’s economy is becoming marginalized.”
The government has insisted that the ECFA will pave the way for other free-trade agreements with Asian countries and enhance national economic competitiveness.
It has also expressed optimism that it can wrap up negotiations over the planned pact this year.
Labor and farming organizations, however, have criticized the proposed pact, fearing it could marginalize farmers and increase Taiwan’s economic reliance on China.
Professor Nakajima Mineo, who is also president of Japan’s Akita International University (AIU), told the conference yesterday that he did not foresee any benefits for Taiwan within the next few years if the ECFA is signed.
He also said President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policies toward China, including an ECFA, could result in “negative consequences,” adding that Ma had skewed Taiwan’s relationship with the US and Japan.
This issue was also addressed by Tkacik, who said Taiwan’s trade relationship with the US had declined notably since Ma was inaugurated as president in 2008.
“Since Ma’s administration was elected, bilateral trade between Taiwan and the US has declined 15 to 20 percent,” he said.
The conference, hosted by the US-based World Taiwanese Congress and the Taiwan Nation Alliance, also included discussions on issues including Taiwanese independence and ways to gain both international and domestic support for such a move.
Speaking during the conference, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Ma’s policies that emphasize Chinese over Taiwanese culture did not properly reflect popular opinion, given that more people in the nation identify themselves as Taiwanese rather than Chinese.
“From 1999 to October 2009, the percentage of people identifying themselves as Taiwanese increased from 43 percent to 76 percent. Meanwhile, the number seeing themselves as Chinese fell from 21 percent to 10 percent,” she said.
However, increased identification with Taiwan does not necessarily translate into increased acknowledgement of Taiwan’s sovereignty, she said. Tsai said this has become more of an issue under Ma’s government, which she accused of deliberately downplaying sovereignty whenever dealing with Chinese issues.
In reference to an ECFA, Tsai said that while Ma maintains he has safeguarded the nation’s sovereignty, many international observers interpret the agreement as a move toward unification with China.
“Although President Ma has told us that he is not selling our sovereignty, his methods have already led many to question whether the boundary between Taiwan and China is already becoming blurred,” Tsai said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Also See: Lee calls for deepening democracy
Also See: Taiwan needs ECFA with China, Siew says
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
CHECKING BOUNDARIES: China wants to disrupt solidarity among democracies and test their red lines, but it is instead pushing nations to become more united, an expert said The US Department of State on Friday expressed deep concern over a Chinese public security agency’s investigation into Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) for “secession.” “China’s actions threaten free speech and erode norms that have underpinned the cross-strait ‘status quo’ for decades,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau late last month listed Shen as “wanted” and launched an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities, including his founding of the Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization that prepares people for an invasion by China. The spokesperson said that the US was “deeply concerned” about the bureau investigating Shen
‘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
RSS