All negotiation on agreements between Taiwan and China should be suspended due to the lack of improvement in China’s legal system and the illegitimacy of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said yesterday.
The ECFA, a cross-strait trade deal signed in June 2010, has not yet received the people’s mandate by being put to a referendum, TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a press conference.
While the government argued that it does not require a referendum to approve the trade pact, a Supreme Administrative Court ruling on June 14 kept Huang optimistic.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The Supreme Administrative Court overruled the Taipei High Administrative Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit Huang had filed, which claimed the Referendum Review Committee’s veto of his application for a referendum on the ECFA was illegal, and ruled that the committee must review the application.
Huang said the ruling reaffirmed that the government has deprived people of their right to a referendum and caused the ECFA to be signed without a basis of public support, which means all subsequent deals would be illegal.
“Any cross-strait negotiation would have to wait until a referendum on the ECFA has been held,” he said.
Even if those talks continue, Huang said, the ECFA “has become a monopolized platform from which the princelings of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party reap big profits.”
The agreement does not benefit the people of Taiwan, he said.
Citing the latest negotiations on the cross-strait investment protection agreement as an example, Huang said the content of the deal on the table is opposed by small Taiwanese businesses and conglomerates alike because it fails to protect the personal safety and investments of Taiwanese businesspeople in China, Huang said.
China has neither made significant improvement on the fairness of its judicial system and law enforcement nor demonstrated its determination to protect personal safety, investment and intellectual property rights, he added.
Quoting Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), who said the investment protection agreement “would be better left unsigned if it does not work,” Huang said many Taiwanese businesspeople do not support the agreement, but dare not make public comments due to pressure by Beijing.
Citing sources among Taiwanese businesspeople, Huang added that they complained about the lack of transparency of the cross-strait deals and negotiations and said only a handful of people who are close to the KMT officials could obtain details of the bilateral talks.
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
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
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