Proceeding into the second day of a public hearing on the cross-strait service trade agreement that was signed by Taiwan and China last month, supporters and opponents of the pact remained divided on whether the agreement is good for the country.
“Opening up some more sensitive industries to China could pose a threat to our national security,” National Taiwan University (NTU) electrical engineering professor Tsai Zse-hong (蔡志宏) said at the hearing, held at the legislature in Taipei. “In many European and North American countries, they have legislation to protect industries that may raise national security concerns — such as the transportation, information technology, telecommunications, medical and financial sectors — when they open up the domestic market.”
“This is something that the government should think about as we open up to China,” he added.
Taiwan Federation of Financial Unions secretary-general Han Shih-hsien (韓仕賢) agreed.
He pointed out that once Chinese banks get their hands on major Taiwanese financial institutions, they would naturally be able to obtain classified information about the banking institutions’ clients, “through the information, they could learn a lot about Taiwan’s economic and financial situation.”
Victims of Investments in China Association chairman William Kao (高為邦) said that based on his experiences and those of the group’s members, he would not trust the promises of the Chinese government.
“Most Taiwanese businesspeople do not get any help when they become victims in China,” Kao said, adding that with the agreement, more people would be going to China and making investments there, which would be “like sending them to their death.”
Woo Rhung-jieh (吳榮傑), a professor at NTU’s department of agricultural economics, said he is not opposed to free trade, but he is against a non-transparent free-trade agreement.
“The government did not tell us what the pact was about before signing it, and now after the signing the government is still not telling us everything about it,” Woo said. “The government keeps on emphasizing how good the pact is, without mentioning the negative impacts, but there is no trade agreement that is purely positive to one side — how can we trust the government if it is not honest?”
Woo went on to say that, from what is already known, the agreement seems to be beneficial to corporates at the expense of the working class.
“I am therefore worried that the cross-strait service trade agreement will only add to the unemployment rate,” he added.
On the other hand, some participants voiced their support for the agreement during the meeting.
Taipei Association of Travel Agents vice president Lee Chia-yin (李嘉寅) said that the agreement is more positive than negative for the tourism industry “because the travel market in China is much bigger than the market in Taiwan.”
However, he also suggested that the government should help to attract visitors from other countries to visit Taiwan, saying that the travel market is too dependent on Chinese tourists already.
Taiwan Securities Association secretary-general Chuang Tai-ping (莊太平) also spoke in favor of the agreement.
Chuang said that the fierce competition in the Taiwanese financial market has made the Taiwanese finance industry highly competitive.
“The competitiveness and service of Taiwanese financial institutions is superior to their Chinese counterparts, therefore we are looking forward to the ratification of the cross-strait service trade agreement by the legislature as soon as possible,” Chuang said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) warned that it would damage Taiwan’s credibility in the international community if it seeks to alter or re-negotiate the agreement.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods