Concerned that further liberalization could have a catastrophic effect on the agricultural sector, farming activists called on the government to halt a plan to create “free economic pilot zones” (FEPZs).
While government officials, including Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Pao-chi (陳保基), promised that FEPZs would prove beneficial to farmers, farming activists called the promises lies.
“Trade is already very liberal in this country. What Taiwan needs at the moment is the transformation of the agricultural sector, not further liberalization,” Taiwan Rural Front spokeswoman Tsai Pei-hui (蔡培慧) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
“Experiments with free trade zones in countries such as India and South Korea have proven that it would only lead to a dead end,” she said.
Farmers and farming activists are worried about the idea of establish processing centers for agricultural products in FEPZs, which, according to the plan that has been drawn up, would “process and export agricultural products using raw materials with a competitive advantage.”
“In the world of free trade, ‘products with competitive advantage’ usually refers to ‘products that cost less,’ Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) said.
“Thus we can almost be certain that it would be agricultural products from China that would be processed and exported in the FEPZs,” said Liu, who represents the predominantly agricultural constituency of Yunlin County.
Several farmers at the press conference agreed with Liu.
“We’re quite worried that foreign agricultural products will benefit from the FEPZs,” said Chiu Hsien-hui (邱顯輝), a farmer from New Taipei City (新北市).
Rice farmer Chen Shou-chin (陳守欽) from Changhua County’s Sihu Township (溪湖) said the government would win 100 percent support from farmers were it to draft a plan that would benefit farmers.
“But it doesn’t seem to be the case with the FEPZ plan,” Chen said.
Peng Ming-hwei (彭明輝), a retired National Tsing Hua University professor, pointed out that trade liberalization usually benefits large corporations at the expense of farmers and workers.
“Since Taiwan’s admission to the World Trade Organization, people’s real income has dropped and the unemployment rate has gone up, but GPD has increased,” Perng said.
“This indicates that wealth is flowing toward big corporations and capitalists, and away from ordinary citizens,” he said.
“The government should refrain from further liberalization of trade,” he added.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS