While Taipei and Beijing would work to maintain peace before 2012, it did not necessarily mean the two sides would reach a peace agreement by then, a panelist told a cross-strait forum yesterday.
Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), director of the Graduate Institute of China Studies at Tamkang University, said it would be difficult for Taipei and Beijing to sign a peace agreement in the near future.
Besides, a peace accord would be conducive to peace but it could not guarantee peace and stability, he said.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“It is not that both sides cannot talk about politics, but it’s very complicated,” he said. “It is also not the time for such talks. Remember, haste makes waste.”
Chang made the remarks during a forum organized by the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce to discuss the new challenges and change of political and economic climate after the two sides signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in June.
A pro-independence group yesterday also held a separate forum in Taipei to discuss the impact of the ECFA.
They appealed to the legislature to hold a referendum on the ECFA and urged the public to abandon Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates for the November mayoral elections as well as in legislative polls.
Peter Chang (張信堂), secretary-general of the Taiwan Association of University Professors, said his organization would join forces with other civic groups to stage a sit-in outside the legislature next Monday and Tuesday, when the lawmaking body is scheduled to hold a second provisional session to approve the trade pact.
Chen Chun-sheng (陳春生), honorary professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development, said Taiwan’s national security was in peril and Taiwanese must wake up to what he called a major crisis.
There was no need to stage a revolution or armed uprising because Taiwan was already a democracy, Chen said, but the Taiwanese public had the right to express their opinions on the trade pact.
If they were denied such a right, Chen urged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) to join forces with civic groups to reject the validity of the ECFA and all other cross-strait agreements.
Chen also urged KMT members to withdraw from their party and join the DPP or TSU. To press the KMT to change its cross-strait policy, Chen encouraged the public to reject KMT candidates in the November elections as well as in legislative polls.
Hsu Chung-hsin (?H), a law professor at National Cheng Kung University, said the trade deal put Taiwan in an unfavorable position.
Unless Taiwan accepts the Hong Kong model of “one country, two systems,” the local market would be forced to liberalize 10 years after the ECFA signing, he said.
It was also “unwise” to forsake the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism and instead agree to let the cross-strait economic cooperation committee handle the matter, he said.
Hsu urged the public to join their protest next week and ask the legislature to terminate the agreement.
Wang Szu-wei (王思為), a professor at Nanhua University’s Department of Non-Profit Organization Management, said Taiwanese should have a say on the ECFA and that the Referendum Review Committee should be abolished.
In related news, former DPP chairman and Red Shirt leader Shih Ming-teh (施明德) placed full-page advertisements in local newspapers yesterday calling for the abolishment of Article 16 of the ECFA document, which contains provisions for a termination clause.
The ads said both sides would benefit from the trade pact, in the spirit of mutual respect and under the great ideals of sustainable development for the two peoples.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER AND CNA
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