Saying the financial memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Beijing on Monday was signed “in a surreptitious way,” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday demanded that the agreement be deliberated at the legislature.
The DPP criticized the government for compromising the nation’s sovereignty as the MOU was signed under Beijing’s “one China” framework, adding that it held the legislature in contempt for keeping the contents of the MOU secret.
It said the MOU would harm the local finance sector and that only Chinese lenders would benefit from the deal.
“How the signing of the MOU was handled proves that Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) lied when he said last week that he would show respect for the legislature,” DPP Policy Division Deputy Executive-Secretary Liu Chien-hsin (劉建忻) said.
Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) announced unexpectedly at 6:15pm on Monday that the commission had completed the signing of the MOU with its Chinese counterpart at 6pm via a document exchange.
It happened just a few hours after officials discussed the issue with lawmakers at the legislature’s Finance and Economics committees.
The agreement was signed in the name of financial supervision representatives on the Taiwanese and Chinese side to avoid the official title of the two regulators, which carries the phrases “Executive Yuan” and “China” respectively.
Liu said the manner in which the MOU was signed dovetailed with Beijing’s “one China framework.”
DPP caucus whip Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said the manner in which Taiwan was referred to in the agreement suggested an “abandonment of Taiwan’s sovereignty.”
“Mainland [China] is a geographical term, as is Taiwan. Taiwan’s status as a nation was downgraded,” Chai said.
Pan Meng-an (潘孟安), another DPP caucus whip, said the government signed the deal with China “at the pace of a clap of thunder that left no one enough time to cover their ears” and was like “slapping the face of the legislature” as lawmakers were mulling possible safeguard measures to protect local lenders and the public.
“The [lifting of restrictions] on US beef became effective spontaneously, without legislative approval, as did the financial MOU with China. Will [the government’s plan to sign an economic cooperative and framework agreement] be next?” Pan asked.
DPP Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) criticized the government for paying no attention to lawmakers and people who had doubts over the impact of the MOU.
“We worry that someday we will wake up in the morning and find the [Chinese] flag flying outside the Presidential Office,” Wang said.
Liu asked that the government send the MOU to the legislature for deliberation to ensure that the agreement will not favor Chinese lenders more than local banks and that the personal data of bank customers will not be abused under the deal’s information-sharing mechanism.
Wu, however, dismissed the criticism, saying the government had ensured the country’s dignity in the agreement signed on the basis of equality.
“It would be better if the name of our side had been attached with ‘Executive Yuan’ as it was acceptable to us that ‘China’ was put in front of the other side’s title. However, the other side would rather not mention them. Given which, that both sides call each other ‘Taiwan’ and ‘Mainland’ conforms with the principles of equality and respect,” Wu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said the commission had failed to fully respect the legislature.
“[The FSC] should not have concealed the information from the legislature or have been disrespectful to the legislature, because this will cause serious problems afterwards by having a negative impact on trust between the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan,” Lee told reporters. “This will also make it more difficult for the ECFA [economic cooperation framework agreement] to clear the legislative floor.”
KMT caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) rebutted the DPP’s criticism, saying that the FSC had briefed the legislature.
“The legislature has held 17 briefings, so basically [the FSC] has shown respect to the legislature [and] everything was ripe for signing the MOU as soon as possible,” Lu said.
INCREASED RISK: The Omicron BA.2.75 subvariant has higher immune evasive capacity, but the CECC is more concerned about newer subvariants such as XBB and BQ.1 With the peak season for infectious respiratory diseases coming to an end, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that details of the next phase of lifting COVID-19 masking rules — removing the mask requirement in most indoor settings — are to be announced this week. Discussions on lifting other COVID-19 restrictions are also being held, including further easing border control measures, home isolation requirements and revising the definition for reporting cases, while also downgrading COVID-19 to a lower category of notifiable communicable disease, said Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC. As the daily
CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT: A new committee would investigate a backlog of US weapons sales to Taiwan, said its chairman, US Representative Mike Gallagher The US should formally recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, and end its outdated and counterproductive “one China” policy, US Representative Tom Tiffany and 18 other US lawmakers wrote in a petition. “It is time to change the status quo and recognize the reality denied by the US government for decades: Taiwan is an independent nation,” Tiffany told the Epoch Times. “As our long-standing and valued partner, correctly acknowledging their independence from communist China is long overdue.” The resolution also asks the administration of US President Joe Biden to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to negotiate a bilateral free-trade
GUT FEELING: In the leaked memo, US Air Force General Mike Minihan urged mobile command personnel to go to a firing range, shoot at a target and ‘aim for the head’ A four-star US Air Force general has warned of a conflict with China as early as 2025 — most likely over Taiwan — and urged his commanders to push their units to achieve maximum operational battle readiness this year. In an internal memorandum that first emerged on social media on Friday, and was later confirmed as genuine by the Pentagon, Air Mobility Command Commander General Mike Minihan said that the main goal should be to deter “and, if required, defeat” China. “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025,” Minihan said. Minihan said that Taiwan’s presidential election
DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM: Czech president-elect Petr Pavel said his nation stands firmly on the side of democracy and would boost cooperation with Taipei in all aspects Czech president-elect Petr Pavel spoke by telephone with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday, a highly unusual move given the lack of formal ties and a diplomatic coup for Taipei. Tsai spoke with Pavel for 15 minutes in a harmonious atmosphere, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said, adding that Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) was also present during the conversation. Lin quoted Pavel as telling Tsai that Taiwan is a trustworthy partner, adding that the Czech Republic stands firmly on the side of democracy and supports Taiwan in maintaining a lively democratic system free from authoritarian coercion. The Czech Republic would
RSS