Amid growing public opposition to the proposed cross-strait trade in goods agreement, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said the government should draw up comprehensive compensatory measures before inking a deal with China.
Chu made the remarks during an interview with China TV yesterday morning, in which he criticized the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) handling of the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement signed in Shanghai in June 2013.
“When we reflect on the service trade agreement, it was marred by a lack of communication and the government’s ambiguous planning,” said Chu, who took over the KMT chairmanship from Ma in January.
Given the sensitive nature of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait signing a deal, Chu said if he had been in power, he would have handled the issue in a more discreet manner and laid down a full compensatory plan before signing the treaty.
Chu said the president should have also assessed the matter from a strategic point of view to determine whether to sign the service trade agreement or the trade in goods agreement first.
“The service trade agreement involves people, while the trade in goods treaty concerns money. Which do you think causes more emotions: People or money?” Chu asked.
The cross-strait service trade agreement has been stalled in the legislature since KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung’s (張慶忠) move to rush it through a committee review in March last year prompted scores of students to occupy the Legislative Yuan in Taipei for almost 23 days — an event dubbed the Sunflower movement.
The 12th round of negotiations on the cross-strait trade in goods agreement, which concluded in Taipei on Monday, were dogged by protests saying that the deal would only benefit large corporations at the expense of farmers and small businesses.
The KMT chairman said if the nation were negotiating a deal with the Philippines or any other member of ASEAN, the impact and ideological opposition it would cause would be far less than an agreement being signed with China.
However, Taiwan must head toward economic openness if it wants a brighter future, Chu said.
“The process of opening up will undoubtedly be painful, but you cannot make an omelet without breaking some eggs,” Chu said. “That is why the government must prepare compensatory and antifraud mechanisms beforehand.”
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