Approval of a proposed cross-strait services trade agreement with China would have affected about 1.14 million service-sector enterprises, as well as the jobs and livelihoods of more than 5 million workers in Taiwan, rights advocates said yesterday as they marked the 10th anniversary of the Sunflower movement.
Taiwan Economic Democracy Union, in cooperation with other organizations, held a daylong series of lectures in Taipei to commemorate March 18, 2014, when students and rights campaigners occupied the legislative chamber to oppose the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s plan to force the passage of the proposed service trade deal through the legislature.
It was the administration of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that agreed to the service trade pact, National Taiwan University professor of economics Jang Show-ling (鄭秀玲) said at one of the seminars.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“The process was not transparent, the terms of agreement were unequal and unfair to us, and they risked undermining Taiwan’s national security,” she said. “Even then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was not aware of it.”
“It was the Sunflower movement that blocked the trade pact from going ahead. Now in retrospect, we must be thankful as it safeguarded Taiwan,” she said.
“It would have impacted all service-oriented sectors and companies in Taiwan, affecting many people’s livelihood. It is an unequal trade pact,” she said. “The deal would have the Taiwanese government collaborate with Beijing in line with China’s 12th Five-Year Plan, which it adopted in 2011.”
Under Beijing’s plans, the service trade deal aimed to incorporate Taiwan into its new economic zone “for Chinese cities on the western shores of the Taiwan Strait” and upgrade the competitiveness of China’s service sector, as listed under its Five-Year Plan, she said.
“The trade pact would have opened up Taiwan’s airports, transportation hubs and shipping ports to Chinese businesses, which would have been a national security concern,” Jang said.
“If our legislature had approved it, it would have affected about 5.83 million employees in Taiwan’s service sector,” she said, urging the public to use their vote during elections to rebuke political parties that are planning to revive the service trade deal.
The Democratic Progressive Party released a statement commemorating the Sunflower movement, saying: “Ten years ago, the younger generation learned the importance of safeguarding democracy and freedom, of joining hands with fellow citizens to choose the nation’s path.”
“They understood the great dangers in offering Taiwan’s economic development and political system to China for its taking,” it said.
“The younger generation took action to deepen Taiwan’s democracy, consolidate our economic self-sufficiency and to make friends with all countries around the world, working together with countries that share our ideals about democracy and freedom,” it said.
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