The New Party has made itself a “broker for unification” and Beijing’s endorser through its establishment of an organization to promote a planned cross-strait experimental zone in China, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said yesterday.
The party’s motive behind its promotion of the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone in China’s Fujian Province was “suspicious,” TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a press conference after the pro-unification New Party announced yesterday the establishment of the Taiwan-Pingtan Relations Association.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration appears wary of the proposal, with Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) telling lawmakers on Wednesday last week that China has “ulterior motives” and the zone “is not as simple as it looks.”
The establishment of the association ahead of a promotional visit by the Fujian governor to Taiwan reflected the New Party’s attempt to collaborate with the Chinese to achieve their shared goal of unification, Huang said.
Chinese media say the zone, which is on Pingtan Island, 68 nautical miles (125km) from Hsinchu, would host high-tech companies and factories and “deepen cross-strait ties,” but Taiwanese analysts are concerned that Taiwan’s economy would hollow out further if more domestic businesses move their investments there.
TSU Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said incoming Chinese capital and closer cross-strait economic integration following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) could slowly jeopardize Taiwan’s economy.
She urged the Ma administration to stay alert to China’s attempt of annexing Taiwan through non-military means.
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
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