Praise for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) performances in the debate yesterday on the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) appears to be divided along party lines.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), a member of the legislature’s Finance Committee, lauded Ma’s performance in the debate, saying the president, who doubles as KMT chairman, has erased public doubts about an ECFA. She added that Ma had taken a new approach by emphasizing the government’s plan to negotiate the pact step by step and promising to terminate the negotiations if the nation would not benefit from the agreement.
DPP lawmakers, on the other hand, heaped praise on Tsai, while roundly criticizing Ma for “inaccurate fallacies” in his claims that the DPP caucus had not been giving government officials a chance to explain the trade pact.
At a post-debate press conference held by the Presidential Office, Ma, his voice rough after the 150-minute televised program, declined to give a score for his performance, saying he would leave the verdict to the public.
Ma praised his opponent as “professional, sincere and open,” and said he looked forward to holding further discussions with Tsai on the issue.
Ma said he learned a lot from Tsai about the opposition’s concerns about an ECFA.
“Some may be hyperbole and some may be nonsense, but it maybe reflects the worries of the public, so we must not ignore it,” he said. “I will try to gather all the information I can and find out what else I can do to mitigate their concerns.”
Ma surprised many in the debate when, in his opening statement, he announced his administration would suspend negotiations “if the proposed accord would not benefit Taiwan’s overall economy.” However, he repeatedly dodged Tsai’s questions about alternative measures should the negotiations break down.
When the Taipei Times asked him the same question during the press conference, Ma said he would not reveal the contingency plan because the negotiations are still on-going.
Ma said he believed the public would understand and that they “definitely have other plans.” He did not elaborate.
Asked what he meant by “benefiting Taiwan’s overall economy,” Ma said it would include “reduction of tariffs [and] increasing exports,” and said as the economy improves, foreign investment would grow.
Ma also came under criticism from Tsai for repeatedly evading her questions about the discrepancy between his claim that tariffs could be saved once the trade deal is signed and the statistics made public by the government.
Ma told the press conference that he did not deliberately avoid the question, referring to it as a technical issue that he did not want to spend too much time explaining.
“I know the answer, but I’m not sure whether the public is interested in hearing it,” he said. “I will ask related agencies to deal with the details.”
Meanwhile, at a separate post-debate press conference held by the DPP, Tsai said she regretted what she called Ma’s failure to adequately explain many aspects of the controversial trade pact.
“His remarks lacked real content,” Tsai said.
“The president did not respond to any of the issues that I brought up, as I recollect; he did not deliver any substantive responses. It’s possible that he just didn’t hear me clearly or may have missed some of my questions,” she said, adding that Ma ended up just repeating most of the talking points that government agencies have already made public, still keeping the public unaware of the trade pact’s content.
“The questions that I asked were not even that difficult. Being the leader of this country, the [president] should have been well prepared to deal with the concerns over this important piece of national policy,” Tsai said.
However, she said, the DPP would welcome any chance for further debate on the issue.
Asked whether she would go ahead with a plan to hold a massive demonstration against an ECFA, Tsai said the DPP would watch to see if the Ma administration adjusts its attitude and drops the thinking that the agreement “must be signed no matter what” by June.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS