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.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS