President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should stop negotiating the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China and seek public consensus on the controversial issue, a cross-strait expert said yesterday.
Former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) deputy chairman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said that the differences between the ruling and opposition parties on the issue were not significant.
“But what we see right now is that the president is taking a politically confrontational position against the opposition leader,” Tung said.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
If the administration insists on forging ahead with the ECFA and signs it next month or in June, Tung said, tension is bound to increase and the administration is unlikely to get what it wants at the negotiating table.
At the very least Beijing gave no undertaking not to block Taiwan’s bid to ink free trade agreements (FTA) with other countries during the second round of negotiations on ECFA three weeks ago, he said.
While it takes time to gather and integrate the opinions of the service sector and to draft detailed plans, Tung said it was worrying that the administration had apparently failed to make any effort in this regard.
If the ruling and opposition parties cannot come to a consensus on the matter, Tung said, then a referendum would be the best and least expensive way to resolve the controversy.
Tung made the remarks during a talk at National Chengchi University yesterday afternoon.
Tung, a professor at the university’s Graduate Institute of Development Studies, said that instead of signing a framework agreement with China, Taiwan should sign separate trade deals to address different problems faced by each business sector.
He also criticized the administration for promoting the “early harvest” program as if it were a bonus to signing the ECFA, when many of the industries on the list have been manipulated by special interest groups.
While it is imperative that the government conduct a comprehensive assessment of the overall impact the proposed accord would have on the economy and work to forge a broad-based consensus, Tung said he did not see the administration making such an effort.
In an effort to normalize economic relations and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait, Tung urged the Ma administration to continue negotiations on trade issues with China through the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
If the negotiations on the ECFA must continue, Tung said the administration should consider signing trade pacts with China and the US at the same time. He also suggested the Presidential Office establish a committee chaired by Ma to formulate strategy to promote Taiwan’s global economic integration. Such a committee would solicit opinions from opposition parties, experts and academics, as well as representatives from industry and labor, he said.
Tung also proposed that the government prioritize signing a preferential trade agreement with Beijing under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
RSS