President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) crossed swords yesterday in a highly anticipated debate on a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).
The two hour, 30 minute debate was aired live on Public Television Service, marking the first debate on policy between a president and an opposition party head in the nation’s history.
In his opening statement, Ma pledged to uphold Taiwan’s interests at all costs in negotiating an ECFA with China, an arrangement he described as essential to reviving Taiwan’s trade competitiveness.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“If the ECFA talks do not secure overall economic benefits for Taiwan, I would not accept it [the agreement] and would rather let it fall apart,” Ma said.
For her part, Tsai said Ma’s emphasis on the importance of signing an ECFA with China was based on a belief that “Taiwan can only gain access to the world via China.”
She challenged Ma to tell the public that this is Taiwan’s “only choice” and that no other options exist.
Once the agreement is signed, Taiwan will be required to open its market fully within a 10-year time-frame, Tsai said.
“But the president has yet to tell us how large the impact will be,” she said.
Most attention was given to the 106-minute question-and-answer session during which each asked the other five questions and five follow-up questions related to the trade deal.
Accusing the government of creating a false sense of urgency in concluding an ECFA with Beijing, Tsai said China could have ulterior motives in making unilateral concessions to Taiwan in the talks. She also accused Ma’s pro-China policy of having drained Taiwanese resources and deepened the nation’s commercial and trade reliance on China.
In response, Ma said that his government has been ever-vigilant in opening Taiwan to China and expressed confidence that Taiwanese people are more than capable of dealing with any adverse impact from an ECFA with China.
Ma said that rather than always blaming the government for keeping the opposition party in the dark on the pact, Tsai should instead order DPP lawmakers not to hinder legislative hearings on ECFA issues.
Ma, however, failed to respond to Tsai’s question on whether his administration has any backup plan if the ECFA talks with China break down.
In his questions, Ma said the DPP was responsible for the negative impression people have of the planned pact. In response, Tsai said public insecurity was real and not something any political party could conjure out of thin air.
Concerned that the terms of the agreement will not be reviewed by the Legislature before the deal is signed, Tsai asked Ma what would happen if the Legislature rejected an ECFA.
“Will you redo it all over again?” she asked.
Ma sidestepped the question, but reasserted his administration’s rationale for the pact.
“Our strategy is to not let Taiwan be left behind ... We will be unable to meet the challenges ahead or cope with the international situation if we do not sign the ECFA,” he said.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS