The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will continue to urge the government to hold a nationwide referendum on signing an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) is welcome to join the party’s effort, DPP Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said yesterday in response to the TSU’s offer to help hold a referendum at the county and city level.
TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) yesterday said the decision to sign an ECFA with China should be determined by the public via a referendum. If President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) continued to ignore the TSU’s request, he said that counties and cities with pan-green leaderships should hold their own referendum along with year-end local elections.
Huang said that if issues like the introduction of gambling could go to a referendum, then an ECFA should do so as well as it would have a tremendous impact on every citizen.
If the Ma government is so confident of the benefits that an ECFA would bring, then it should not be afraid to hold a referendum on it, he said.
Cheng agreed with Huang, but said in a democracy a referendum should be initiated and held by the government. When the government refuses to hold a referendum, then the people could collect signatures to urge the government to do so.
Several pro-independence civic groups yesterday said they would set up booths at the DPP’s anti-government rally on Sunday to collect signatures. Cheng said the party was not opposed to the idea.
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