Taiwanese voters have the biggest say in the fate of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) if the government fails to prove the worth of the cross-strait trade pact before the 2012 presidential election, a think tank convener said.
Tsaur Tien-wang (曹添旺), convener of the Department of Economics at the Taiwan Brain Trust, said the government was duty bound to map out a well-thought-out backup plan to minimize the impact of the trade pact, adding that such a plan must be effectively carried out.
The best thing to do would be to let the public know the impact the agreement will have on their daily lives so they would remember that they have a ballot to tell the administration what they think, he said.
“It is the best opportunity they can get,” he said during the question-and-answer session of a forum in Taipei.
The forum was hosted by the think tank to discuss the nation’s destiny and opportunities after the ECFA was signed in June.
Tsaur said the government was playing the public when it recognized that Chinese repression was the main hindrance to the country’s efforts to sign free-trade agreements (FTA) with its major trade partners, but at the same time it told the public that Taiwan did not need China’s permission to do so.
Honigmann Hong (洪財隆), an adjunct assistant professor of economics at National Tsing Hua University’s Center for Contemporary China, said Taiwan must make an effort to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) orchestrated by the US because Taiwan would benefit more from it than from the ECFA.
Former vice premier Wu Rong-i (吳榮義), who is now president of Taiwan Brain Trust, said the ECFA would bring more negative repercussions than benefits because statistics showed that China-bound investment increased after the pact was signed, while foreign investment dwindled. Domestic -investment also grew, but only up to the level of 2008, he said.
Whether or not the Democratic Progressive Party should annul the ECFA if it returns to power, it would have to conform to the due process of law, Wu said, urging the government to deliver on its promise to sign FTAs with other countries after the deal was signed. Failure to ink FTAs would only motivate the public to seriously consider getting rid of the ECFA, he said.
Wang To-far (王塗發), a professor of economics at National Taipei University, criticized the government for promoting the advantages of the pact and ignoring its disadvantages.
Saying the ECFA was a refurbished version of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement China signed with Hong Kong, Wang said Hong Kong suffered an exodus of industries to China, especially manufacturing and services. After the territory’s manufacturing sector was hollowed out, unemployment soared and salaries deteriorated, widening the gap between rich and poor, he said.
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