The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday dismissed a Reuters article that said the low turnout at an event it organized on Saturday against the government’s proposed cross-strait trade pact signaled a “broad but guarded acceptance of the deal by the Taiwanese public.”
The article said attendees “fell far short of the 50,000 to 100,000 who rallied in previous years against overtures to Beijing by the China-friendly Taiwanese government” and cited political analysts as saying that “the size of the protest, a month after a sit-in in Taipei attracted only a few hundred, was an indication that Taiwan’s public accepted the deal, wanted to know more details or believed the government was deaf to protests.”
Former DPP legislator Julian Kuo (郭正亮), speaking for the DPP’s task force in charge of responding to economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA)-related issues, said Saturday’s event in Kaohsiung City was a local event and not a protest or a demonstration as referred to in the article.
He added that despite heavy rain, attendance numbers at the event, which featured “Made in Taiwan” products, agricultural shows, concerts and speeches by politicians, were higher than expected.
The DPP estimated that 3,000 people attended the speeches, which Kuo said “came as a surprise as the DPP did not mobilize its supporters to show up in force.”
He said a rally on the ECFA issue is currently in the planning stage and is expected to take place later this month in Taipei.
Kuo said more than 200,000 people could attend that rally.
“We could mobilize 1,000 buses [carrying protestors] if we needed to,” he said.
While the government said signing an ECFA with China would prevent Taiwan from being marginalized amid regional economic integration, critics argue that an ECFA would jeopardize Taiwan’s sovereignty and make it too economically dependent on China.
Huang Kun-bin (黃崑濱), an 81-year-old farmer from Tainan County who achieved national fame after being cast in the lead role in a 2005 rice-farming documentary Let It Be (無米樂), said an ECFA would devastate both farmers and blue-collar workers.
Speaking at Saturday’s event, Huang, who is affectionately known by the public as Kunbinbo (Uncle Kun-bin, 崑濱伯), said that based on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) pledge to create a NT$95 billion (US$2.9 billion) fund to help industries potentially hard-hit by the agreement, an ECFA would have a deep impact on Taiwan’s economy.
Head of the Taiwan Footwear Manufacturers Development Council Yang Rong-te (楊榮德) said if an ECFA was signed, investments in Taiwan would dry up and head to China.
“The next step for Taiwanese laborers would be unemployment,” he said, adding that an ECFA could kill off Taiwan’s medium and smaller sized businesses.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost