Pan-green lawmakers yesterday expressed concern over the government’s plan to establish “Free Economic Pilot Zones” to promote trade liberalization, saying that the zones could increase the nation’s economic dependence on China and hurt Taiwan’s competitiveness.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) told a press conference that the relaxation of regulations on investment and personnel in the proposed zones appeared to be tailor-made for China, which has been eyeing a way of annexing Taiwan — economic integration.
While the regulations in the zones apply to all foreign businesses, Hsu said China is expected to be the top source of incoming products, investment and workers, which would spell “double trouble” for Taiwan.
An influx of Chinese white-collar workers could squeeze job opportunities for Taiwanese and opening up to Chinese agricultural products would raise food safety concerns, Hsu said.
The unilateral opening up to foreign medical professionals — up to 20 percent of the medical workforce in the pilot zones — and too many tax incentives offered to foreign professionals and businesses were also points of concern, Hsu said.
In addition, the government, which is plagued by financial woes, was likely to see huge tax losses, he said.
With Chinese investors allowed to be majority shareholders, Taiwan’s high-tech know-how could end up in the hands of Chinese firms, he said.
“At the end of the day, Chinese investment in Taiwan represented more than just economic interests, but also conveys Beijing’s political motives, which wants to increase Taiwan’s economic dependency on China,” Hsu said.
In response, Lin Shu-chia (林旭佳), a section chief at the Council of Economic Planning and Development, said that no blue-collar workers would be employed in the zones, adding that legislation and regulation on tax incentives and regulation easing have yet to be decided.
In addition, Lin said that the government would be vigilant for tax losses and less-than-satisfactory investment performances.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and Su Cheng-ching (蘇震清) expressed concern at a separate press conference over the establishment of a value-adding and marketing center for agricultural products in the zones, saying that it could have a detrimental impact on Taiwanese agricultural products.
The lawmakers proposed an agricultural economic zone that promotes and markets home-grown products because under the current plan, cheaper Chinese agricultural products were likely to be imported to the zones for processing and could squeeze out domestically grown products.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS