People who possess large amounts of capital appeared to reap benefits from the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), while those on the lower end of the economic scale absorbed the costs, a recently released report on the cross-strait trade pact signed in June last year suggested.
The report, conducted by National Sun Yat-sen University, was commissioned by the Executive Yuan’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission in hopes of gaining a better understanding of attitudes in southern Taiwan toward the ECFA and making the government more aware of the causes of objection to the ECFA from people in the south.
DISADVANTAGED
Claiming that southern Taiwan, whether one considered it from the perspective of political development, industrial economics or social structure, was considered a disadvantaged area, the report said that following the implementation of the ECFA, the trade pact resulted in “more negative impacts than positive benefits” to industries in the south.
As such, it made southern Taiwan a region in need of a buffer period and related complementary measures, it added.
The report said that collective views gathered from leading figures in the industrial sectors in Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County suggested many were of the opinion that the south profits less, yet pays more of the costs of the ECFA than northern Taiwan.
The report also compared the ECFA to other instances of economic integration, citing the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) between China and Hong Kong as an example, which it said had brought limited economic benefits to the Chinese territory.
The CEPA is a trade agreement that was signed in June 2007 to promote the joint development of both Hong Kong and China.
NOT SUCCESSFUL
According to the report, the CEPA was not successful in bringing back Hong Kong businesspeople who had invested in China in hopes of stimulating Hong Kong’s manufacturing sector.
After the signing of the CEPA, Chinese investors flooded the Hong Kong real-estate and stock markets, causing housing prices to skyrocket, the report said, adding that Hong Kong now has one of the largest wealth gaps among the world’s developed economies.
The report also mentioned a further outflow of Hong Kong’s manufacturing and production services after the signing of the CEPA. Hong Kong’s service industry also moved north into China, causing a second exodus of the territory’s industry, it said.
SOLIDARITY: A group of European lawmakers condemned China’s aggressive moves, while the foreign minister of Lithuania said Taiwan ‘cannot become a second Ukraine’ A German parliamentary delegation would visit Taiwan in the first week of October, German lawmaker Holger Becker on Monday told visiting Democratic Progressive Party legislators Fan Yun (范雲) and Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) at the Bundestag in Berlin. Asked by Fan whether he is worried about possible reprisals from Beijing, such as banning him and his family from entering China, Becker said he is more interested in visiting Taiwan, as “now is the time for democracies to stand together.” Fan and Lin also met with German officials to exchange views on digital education and governance. Investing in digital infrastructure and protecting equal rights to
As China waged extensive military exercises off Taiwan, a group of US defense experts in Washington was focused on their own simulation of an eventual — but for now entirely hypothetical — US-China war over the nation. The unofficial what-if game is being conducted on the fifth floor of an office building not far from the White House, and it posits a US military response to a Chinese invasion in 2026. Even though the participants bring a US perspective, they are finding that a US-Taiwan victory, if there is one, could come at a huge cost. “The results are showing that under
WRONG TIMING: The delegation’s trip has not only disappointed Taiwanese, but could send a wrong message to the global community, Tsai Ing-wen said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) yesterday left with a delegation for a trip to China, drawing fire for visiting at a time when Beijing has been conducting intensive military drills to pressure Taiwan. Before boarding, he told reporters that the delegation would be visiting Taiwanese communities and students in China, and possibly meet with Chinese officials. The Mainland Affairs Council on Tuesday night said that it was not the right time for political party members to visit China, as Beijing has been conducting military exercises since Thursday last week. President Tsai Ing- wen (蔡英文), chairperson of the Democratic
‘MILITARY PLAYBOOK’: It would have taken far longer for the PLA to put together the drills had they actually been in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit, Joseph Wu said China is using military drills to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan, and its anger over US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit is just an excuse, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. Speaking in English at a news conference in Taipei, Wu accused China of “gross violations of international law.” “China has used the drills in its military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan,” he said. “It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyberattacks, disinformation and economic coercion, in an attempt to weaken public morale in Taiwan.” He said the Chinese
RSS