The debate over a controversial trade pact Taipei intends to sign with China entered the classroom yesterday, as students from nine universities met to debate whether the government should move to sign the agreement.
The event, held at National Taiwan University (NTU) by the pro-independence Northern Taiwan Society, saw students raise concerns that an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China could have a negative impact on their future career prospects and more fragile Taiwanese industries.
A debate team led by Lin Yu-lun (林于倫), a student of Chinese literature at NTU, said the issue was polarized because the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government had yet to fully reveal the details on an ECFA and how it would affect Taiwan’s economy.
Other students — the vast majority of whom opposed an ECFA — called on more people to rally in support of a referendum on the agreement, saying the public deserved a say on what they said was an important instrument of national policy.
A student from the Minghsin University of Science and Technology said that as “[an ECFA] will not benefit the public and instead could harm Taiwanese [interests], people should take to the streets in support of a referendum.”
DELEGATIONS
The more than a dozen university delegates included representatives from as far away as Kaohsiung, with students from the Kaohsiung Medical University and I-Shou University.
A number of high school students and university alumni associations were also in the audience.
This was the second student debate organized by the Taiwan Society North on an ECFA, which it opposes on the grounds that an influx of cheaper competing goods from China would have an adverse effect on Taiwanese jobs and salaries.
The organization has also raised concerns that the agreement could increase Taiwan’s economic dependence on China, which it maintains could have dangerous political side effects.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) have called the agreement “essential,” saying it would boost Taiwan’s economic growth, create jobs and increase the likelihood of Taiwan signing free-trade agreements with other trade partners.
FOREIGN VIEWS
The topic of whether Taiwan should sign an ECFA with China also attracted the interest of foreign students studying in Taiwan, who took part in a separate event that began on Saturday.
A team made up of four students from NTU’s International Chinese Language Program has signed up for a three-day debate among political science majors from universities nationwide.
The inter-school debate is usually held annually.
National Chengchi University (NCCU) is the organizer of this year’s debate, in which teams will argue on whether Taiwan should sign a trade pact with China.
Asked why he signed up for the activity, Jeffrey Hartsough of the US said in Mandarin he did so because an ECFA is “a very significant issue that concerns the future of a country.”
Hartsough said that while having ordinary conversations in Mandarin is easy, debating in Mandarin can be challenging. As a result, he has been practicing with his classmates for several weeks.
The debate, which concludes today, attracted students from NTU, NCCU, Soochow University and Tamkang University, as well as the Republic of China Military Academy, which is participating for the first time and sent three teams.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
RSS