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
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