Accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of adopting a “locked-up country” policy toward Beijing, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said if Taiwan signed an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, the country would have a very different position in world trade.
Ma said that in the past decade, Taiwan straitjacketed itself with tight regulations and conservative policies, confusing investors over the direction the country and China were headed.
His administration’s goal is clear, however, Ma said. It is to build Taiwan into a global innovation center and regional trade hub, a global operation headquarter for Taiwanese businesspeople and a regional operation center for foreign investors, he said.
As China is soon to become the world’s second-largest economy, Ma said, Taiwan must maintain a “proper relationship” with it.
“It’s not a matter of whether we like it or not, but something we must do,” he said while inspecting Taoyuan International Airport. “If we don’t, we will lag behind. Our global economic competitiveness will fall and we will be marginalized. Taiwan must seize this opportunity.”
Ma said since the country will soon sign an ECFA with Beijing, Taiwan will have a different position in the global economy.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Office yesterday also accused the former DPP administration of adopting a belligerent foreign policy that repelled US senators from visiting the country.
A senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity said interactions between Taipei and Washington were smooth and sound when the DPP came to power in 2000, thanks to the groundwork laid by the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
Many US senators visited Taiwan during that time, he said. However, Taiwan-US relations took a nosedive after former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) adopted a hawkish foreign policy, he said, completely squandering the diplomatic capital mustered by the KMT and undermining Washington’s trust in Taiwan.
The recent visit of a US Senate delegation was an indicator of improved Taiwan-US ties, he said.
The official made the remarks after criticism that the government had inflated the effectiveness of Ma’s cross-strait policy following a recent visit headed by Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California.
The delegation was the first group of US senators to visit Taipei since Ma took office in May 2008.
Ma, who met Feinstein on Saturday, said it was “beyond imagination” that the delegation could come after visiting Beijing and Shanghai and that it was made possible because of cross-strait detente. KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fan (林郁方) also said the visit was of significance to Taiwan-US relations.
The DPP rejected the president’s comments yesterday and said he should stop discrediting the opposition party on “false issues.”
Director of the DPP’s Department of International Affairs Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said the DPP had adopted a more pragmatic China policy during its term in office that aimed to normalize relations.
It is the Ma administration that engaged in “reckless” policies with China at the expense of Taiwan’s global ties, she said.
“It is Ma who is really locking the country; he is locking Taiwan’s relations to China,” Hsiao said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition