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.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS