While protesters took their anti-economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) message to the streets in Taipei City, officials from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government yesterday swung into action to promote the cross-strait trade pact, which is scheduled to be signed on Tuesday in Chongqing, China.
Cabinet officials — including Minister Without Portfolio Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘), Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥), Council of Agriculture Chairman Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) and Vice Chairman Hu Sing-hwa (胡興華), and Deputy Chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Kao Charng (高長) — each chaired workshops on the subject in Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Taichung and Keelung yesterday.
Executive Yuan Spokesman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that similar workshops would continue nationwide, with government officials to explaining the content of an ECFA to the public face to face.
PHOTO: CNA
The event in Taipei County’s Junghe (中和) drew 1,000 people, although some of them were mobilized by KMT county councilors. Interviewed by cable station Formosa TV, some said they did not know why they were there.
Chiang said the government also planned to purchase newspaper ads and TV ads to promote an ECFA. A recent full-page ad published in the Chinese-language Apple Daily carried a statement by MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) rebutting opponents’ criticism of an ECFA.
Yiin yesterday said the government had held more than 2,000 workshops on an ECFA since last year.
“Policy explanation is never enough. We have to continue efforts to make people understand the benefits and impacts of an ECFA,” he said.
Asked for comment, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the government respected the people’s right to participate in an anti-ECFA rally held by the opposition yesterday.
He reiterated that the final version of an ECFA would ensure benefits for Taiwan and its people, urging the Democratic Progressive Party to oversee the government in implementing an ECFA rather than oppose the trade deal.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
RSS