Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential hopeful Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said she would reassess the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) if elected next year, but did not say whether she would seek its nullification.
During a radio interview with the Broadcasting Corporation of China, Tsai said that if she were elected president, her administration would take a second look at the trade pact, which was signed with China in June last year, and she criticized the government for failing to refer the trade pact to the WTO, as it had promised to do.
“The pact must be made transparent internationally. We can’t have other trading partners questioning what sort of trade exchanges we have with China,” she said. “It will have an impact on our other trade relationships.”
The ECFA, a tariff-reducing pact, is a delicate issue for the DPP and especially for Tsai, who first opposed the pact, but later adopted a more noncommittal stance.
While acknowledging the influence of China — Taiwan’s largest trading partner — on the economy, she said cross-strait economic relations needed to be tempered by an understanding of its adverse impact on unemployment and wages.
“We have to deal with China. There is no question about it, but we can’t come too close. It offers many opportunities, but at the same time, many risks,” she said.
During the 45-minute interview, which dealt mostly with cross-strait relations, but also with the petrochemical and nuclear industries, Tsai said the country needed a “next--generation” leader who could strike a balance between Taiwan’s interests and China’s growing clout.
“We need to find Taiwan’s space and bargaining chips ... and I hope the [DPP] finds a person from the next generation,” she said in an apparent jab at her rival for the DPP nomination, 63-year-old former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
Meanwhile, in a separate interview published yesterday by the Central News Agency, Su said Taiwan’s administrative structure of five special municipalities and 12 counties was “unfair.”
If elected next year, he would redraw Taiwan’s administrative districts, he said.
“It will be administratively restructured outside of the current five special municipalities system. Districts would be drawn based on ‘living circles’ and resource sharing,” he said.
The current structure, he said, has led to an “unfair distribution of resources and opportunities.”
Looking at the education system, Su said that almost all the top test takers were students from the special municipalities that make up 59 percent of the nation’s population.
“This is because [education] resources are unfairly distributed. Students are at a disadvantage from the start. If it weren’t for a lack of education opportunities, I wouldn’t have come to Taipei from rural Pingtung County,” he said.
Su said Taipei City, New Taipei City (新北市) and Keelung were examples of a living circle. Taoyuan, Hsinchu and -Miaoli counties, Greater Taichung, Changhua and Nantou counties, as well as Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County were some other examples, he said.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS