The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday reiterated its concerns about the cross-strait service trade agreement signed by Taiwan and China and said it would brief the diplomatic corps in Taiwan on the subject by the end of the month.
Rather than communicating with local service sectors that could be affected before signing the agreement, the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) tried to mobilize Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and government officials for nationwide seminars to calm public concerns after the pact was signed, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.
The DPP vowed to monitor the agreement, which has been opposed by academics, businesspeople and KMT lawmakers, clause-by-clause in the legislature and the party is planning to brief foreign representatives in Taiwan about the party’s position, DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said after the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee meeting.
The briefing of the diplomatic corps was not specially arranged because it is a regular biannual practice, DPP Department of International Affairs director Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠) said.
The party has conducted biannual briefings about political developments in Taiwan to foreign representatives, with the most recent briefing held in December last year, Liu said, adding that the briefing would likely cover more than just the cross-strait service trade agreement.
Liu, DPP Policy Research Committee executive director Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Department of China Affairs director Honigmann Hong (洪財隆) would discuss the DPP’s domestic policies, including pension reform, foreign policy and Su’s visit to the US, as well as cross-strait issues, including the pact and a re-examination of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which was signed in 2010.
The Ma administration held a similar briefing for the diplomatic corps last week, with several representatives wanting to know if the agreement would be revised in the legislature and be renegotiated.
A Central Standing Committee member, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said the DPP is considering a policy recommendation to force the pact to be renegotiated, but the party understands that the approach could be risky.
The party is concerned that the Executive Yuan could cite Article 95 of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) and ignore the legislature.
The article stipulates that if the legislature fails to adopt a resolution within a month of it being requested, consent is deemed granted.
However, the text is vague and it would depend on how the various parties interpret the clause, the committee member said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS