An important policy like the government’s proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China should be subject to public approval, former grand justice Su Chun-hsiung (蘇俊雄) said in support of holding a referendum on the controversial trade pact.
One day after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers blocked an opposition-sponsored bill calling for a referendum, Su said the government should have used this chance to hear public concern and dissenting opinions raised by the opposition.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said it would submit a separate referendum proposal to the Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee tomorrow, and if passed, a vote on an ECFA could happen as early as late next month.
However, a similar proposal by the DPP was rejected by the committee last year after it said the referendum question was based on a hypothetical situation that did not meet the criteria of the Referendum Act (公投法).
“It’s a common misperception,” Su said, adding that Taiwan’s referendum system also allows for polls initiated by citizens.
Su made the comments at a gathering of law enforcement personnel in support of an ECFA referendum at the TSU’s central party headquarters in Taipei City yesterday.
Among those also in attendance were former heads of National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development Chen Chun-sheng (陳春生), former principal of the National Police University Hsieh Zui-chi (謝瑞智) and former head of the Taiwan Bar Association Tseng Chao-chang (曾肇昌).
“What it comes down to … is that Taiwan and China have a hostile relationship and if China says that Taiwan will ‘benefit’ from this agreement, it really means that Taiwan will pay by losing its sovereignty,” Tseng said.
“The public needs to have a vote on this important national policy,” he said.
In related news, the head of the DPP’s ECFA response team said yesterday the party would focus on assisting the TSU with its referendum proposal after the debate between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Sunday.
“The KMT keeps saying it wants to sign an ECFA with public approval. They should realize that a referendum is the best gauge of this,” Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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