Supporters and opponents of the referendum proposed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) on the government’s planned cross-strait trade pact yesterday attended a public hearing where they debated whether the subject should be put to a vote.
The TSU has proposed a referendum asking the question: “Do you agree that the government should sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China?”
The hearing was organized by the Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee to hear opinions from both sides before it makes a decision on the TSU proposal.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chao Chien-min (趙建民) said at the hearing that as an ECFA would not touch on political issues, a referendum would be inappropriate.
“We do not support a referendum on the matter, because it’s a purely economic agreement, touching on taxation and tariff issues, which, according to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), cannot be subjected to a referendum,” Chao said.
“Meanwhile, the legislature has the full power to monitor the agreement and review it, so a referendum is unnecessary,” he said.
As the signing of an ECFA is likely to precede the referendum, “the result of any referendum should not create obstacles to the normal functioning of government,” Chao said.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Liang Kuo-hsin (梁國新) said that signing an ECFA marks an important step for Taiwan in strengthening trade relations not only with China, but with other countries.
“ECFA is a trade agreement and according to the Constitution, trade agreements and international treaties are subject to legislative ratification,” Liang said.
“Except in very rare cases, no other country would make the signing of a trade agreement subject to a referendum,” Liang said.
The question raised by the TSU in the referendum proposal is also problematic, he said.
“The TSU is clearly against signing an ECFA with China, but it asks whether voters ‘agree’ with an ECFA — this could be misleading and tricky,” he said.
TSU Chairperson Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said “it was absolutely essential” the government first obtain public consent before spearheading efforts to sign the agreement. He added that the agreement could result in Taiwan being drawn into a “China framework,” which would make it economically and politically dependent on its cross-strait neighbor.
“These problems are likely to have a huge impact on Taiwan’s future. If the government insists that this agreement, which has far reaching implications, must be signed, of course it should be done with public consent ... The government wants the people to trust it without preconditions, but the fact is, we have to assume that people can make mistakes and that the government is no exception,” Huang said.
In response to comments by government representatives, Lee Chien-liang (李建良), a professor at Academia Sinica’s Institutum Iurisprudentiae, said that whether other countries have held referendums on a certain subject should not be a factor in deciding whether a referendum can or should be held in Taiwan.
“Someone has to be the first, right?” He said.
Lee said the sole focus of the committee should be to determine whether a referendum proposal meets criteria laid down in the Referendum Act and does not violate the law.
“It doesn’t matter whether the petitioner agrees with the question asked in the proposal or not ... I think the proposed question clearly asks whether the public supports the signing of an ECFA with China, not whether they agree with the content of an ECFA, so the rule that taxation and tariff issues cannot be a topic in a referendum does not apply here,” Lee said.
According to the Referendum Act, an individual or an organization that proposes a referendum must collect signatures from 0.5 percent of the number of qualified voters in the last presidential election — which was around 80,000 people in this case.
After the Referendum Review Committee approves the proposal, the petitioner must then collect signatures from 5 percent of the number of qualified voters in the last presidential election — which is about 800,000 in this case — before it can pass a second review and make it to the polling stations.
TSU officials have said they hope the proposal will be passed next month and put to a vote as early as Nov. 27, the same date as the year-end special municipality elections.
The committee rejected a similar proposal last year by the Democratic Progressive Party on the grounds that its referendum question was based on a hypothetical situation.
Outside the hearing, a dozen volunteers affiliated with the People Sovereignty Action Network staged a demonstration, urging the committee not to block the referendum.
“The referendum proposal was endorsed by 160,000 people — who gives the committee and its appointed members the right to review the proposal?” protester Chung Shu-chi (鍾淑姬) asked.
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