Executive Yuan spokesman Sun Li-chun (孫立群) yesterday announced the date for the first preparatory meeting for a national affairs conference on economics, which is scheduled to be held in late July.
“In an effort to solicit a wide range of opinions, the Executive Yuan has invited 20 prominent figures from various sectors of society to serve as its advisers,” Sun said.
“The advisers are to meet for the first time on Sunday,” he added.
The spokesperson said the issues to be discussed during the meeting included ways of dealing with the global trend of regional economic integration, the concrete measures needed for the nation to participate in regional economic integration and the challenges it may encounter, as well as the correlation between its cross-strait policies and economic development.
“The advisers are also due to reach a consensus during the meeting on the date for the economic conference, the manner it should be held and the method for selecting its representatives,” Sun said.
The spokesman said the conference was meant to serve as a platform to allow “all the people of Taiwan to participate, express their thoughts and exchange their opinions with others.”
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration in late March agreed to hold the conference in an effort to resolve the controversies surrounding the cross-strait service trade agreement.
The discontent with government’s handling of the signing of the pact prompted a three-week-long student-led occupation of the Legislative Yuan between March 18 and April 10 and a brief takeover of the Executive Yuan on March 23.
The pact was signed in June last year and would open 80 Chinese service sub-sectors to Taiwan and 64 Taiwanese service sub-sectors to China.
Opponents of the trade pact have repeatedly voiced grave concerns over its potential impact on workers’ livelihood and on the nation’s security.
According to the National Development Council’s preliminary plan, regional meetings are to be held on a weekly basis across the country starting late next month before the national conference is staged, in an effort to expand citizens’ participation in the matter, Sun said.
“In order to solicit younger generations’ opinions and increase government transparency, we also plan to use popular social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, as a communication channel for the national conference,” Sun said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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