A group led by former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday simulated a sit-in that will take place this week aimed at drumming up support for a referendum on an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
“President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is taking the people of Taiwan on the wrong path, one that is irreversible,” Hsieh said.
Hsieh was joined by dozens of leaders of local groups and associations backing Taiwanese independence.
PHOTO: CNA
The actual rally will be held for three days starting on Thursday until midnight on Saturday in front of the Legislative Yuan.
The Ma government hopes to conclude the proposed ECFA with China next month to lay the groundwork for further liberalized trade.
While Ma has said the deal would not remove a ban on the import of Chinese workers and selected farm products, critics say the pact would result in an influx of laborers and cheap goods from China and undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Hsieh yesterday dismissed Ma’s recent remarks — that an ECFA would put pressure on China to remove missiles targeted at Taiwan — as “groundless.”
“Ma also once said that he would ask China to remove the missiles before Taiwan signs any pact with China,” Hsieh said.
The referendum proposal launched by the Taiwan Solidarity Union and other groups, which would ask Taiwanese voters whether they approve of an ECFA, must still pass two major hurdles before being put to a vote.
A referendum screening committee will soon determine if the proposal conforms with conditions stipulated in the Referendum Act (公民投票法).
If it agrees — which is not a given, considering the committee shot down a previous referendum proposal on the same issue — the opposition would have to collect between 850,000 and 860,000 signatures, or 5 percent of the number of eligible voters in the 2008 presidential election, for the proposal to go through.
Meanwhile, in response to Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) call on Friday urging Hsieh to shorten the rally to avoid noise from affecting a competence test for junior high school students on Saturday, Hsieh said that any assembly — a right enshrined in the Constitution — was bound to impose some inconvenience on others. He said, however, that the group would show restraint to minimize its impact on the people.
Hau said about 2,000 students will take the basic competence test for junior high school students at Taipei Chenggong High School on Saturday morning near the rally site. The test will also be held at various schools that weekend.
“The government respects the people’s right to rally and protest, but I urge Hsieh and the protesters to respect the interests of the students and to end the event one day early on Friday night,” Hau said.
While Hau denied any political implications behind his call, adding that the city government had already approved the permits, Hsieh was not convinced and called Hau’s remarks “full of political calculation.”
Hsieh said that in 2006, when Hau was running for Taipei mayor, Hau delivered lunchboxes to protesters gathered at Ketagalan Boulevard in a protest against then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). The site of that demonstration was close to several schools, but Hau didn’t say a thing, Hsieh said.
Hsieh said that if Hau seriously believed the sit-in would inconvenience the students, he could discuss the matter with rally organizers to move the event up one day to Wednesday and relocate it to Ketagalan Boulevard.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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