The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday challenged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to a televised debate about the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, saying it could increase public awareness about the trade pact.
The call comes after a poll released yesterday by the Chinese-language China Times showed only 4 percent of respondents said that they had a “clear understanding” of the proposed agreement. In the survey, 66.9 percent said that they were unclear over the content of the proposal.
The results also showed support for a debate between Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), with 48.1 percent of respondents saying that Tsai was best suited to represent the views of the opposition.
PHOTO: CNA
Twenty-six percent favored former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
A total of 34 percent of the respondents said it would be too hasty for the government to sign the agreement by June as insisted by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) because the public had yet to form a consensus.
The poll surveyed 800 adults.
DPP spokesperson Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢) yesterday rejected a debate between Wu and Tsai, saying it should be between Tsai and Ma, as the president has the final say over the trade agreement.
“We support an ECFA debate — [but] a debate between [Ma and Tsai] would better fulfill the public’s expectations,” Chuang said. “The president is the main policy maker responsible for the ECFA. The policy was decided upon before Wu took offfice.”
“However, if Wu is set on having this debate, the DPP is willing to find another suitable member [to represent the party],” Chuang said.
The ECFA has drawn strong criticism from the DPP and labor organizations that fear the agreement will lead to a flood of cheap goods and increase Taiwan’s economic reliance on China.
The government insists the agreement would pave the way for other free trade agreements and increase the nation’s economic competitiveness.
Meanwhile, Wu said yesterday that he had expressed a willingness to debate the government’s ECFA plans with Tsai, but she had declined the offer.
Wu told reporters at the legislature that the Chinese-language China Times invited him more than a week ago to debate the issue with Tsai.
“I told [the newspaper] that I would like to listen to Tsai’s opinions to help more people understand how the proposed ECFA would positively influence Taiwan, but the DPP turned down the invitation,” Wu said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus threw support behind the idea of a debate between Wu and Tsai.
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