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TSU launches ECFA referendum
BOOTING MA OUT: Saying that President Ma Ying-jeou had
staked his credibility on signing the agreement with China, the TSU called on
the public to kick Ma out
By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Mar 15, 2010, Page 3
Supporters of the Taiwan Solidarity Union’s
referendum on the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA)
with China smash a box with the initials ECFA on it in Taipei yesterday.
PHOTO: CNA
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and 50 pro-independence groups yesterday
launched a referendum drive against the government’s proposed economic
cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, vowing to stop President Ma
Ying-jeou (馬英九) in his tracks.
TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a press conference that the party would
arrange 24 locations nationwide to collect signatures for the petition. He
called on the public to stand up and express their opinions on this important
issue.
“A referendum on the ECFA proposal is the last chance to defend Taiwan’s
democracy. President Ma has said he is not qualified to be president of the
nation if the ECFA is not signed. Let us not allow him to be the president,”
Huang said.
He said the referendum would ask voters to state “whether they agree that the
government should sign an economic agreement with China.”
While saying that the statement was clear and simple, Huang said he believed the
Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee had no reason to refuse the
referendum proposal.
He said that once the TSU has completed the first phase and gathered 86,000
signatures, the petition would be sent to the government for review, meaning the
proposal would be entered legally and the ECFA, if signed, would not take effect
until the referendum was completed.
The action marks the TSU’s second referendum drive, following one last year
conducted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that was rebuffed by the
committee despite having passed an initial Central Election Commission review.
The committee turned down the petition on the grounds that it was based on a
hypothetical situation that did not meet the criteria set out in the Referendum
Act (公投法).
DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) told a press conference that the party
fully supported the measure, adding that the DPP would motivate party officials
and members to promote the petition, and hoped that the first stage could be
completed in a month.
Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) criticized the ECFA, saying it would
belittle Taiwan’s sovereignty and harm Taiwan’s interests.
“As a responsible head of the nation, Ma should adopt the WTO model and try to
sign a free-trade agreement [FTA] with China, not belittle the nation by
accepting the model for Hong Kong’s Closer Economic Partnership Arrangements,”
Lu said.
She accused Ma of neglecting his duties as president.
“Ma has said other countries would sign FTAs with Taiwan after the country signs
the ECFA with Beijing, but in fact there is no chance for Taiwan to sign FTAs
with other countries once the economic pact with Beijing is signed,” she said.
Former US diplomat John Tkacik said he had observed that countries in Southeast
Asia had not profited after they signed FTAs with China. Farmers in Thailand
thought their products would be exported to China under such an economic treaty,
but after it was approved Thailand’s markets were flooded with Chinese
agricultural goods.
Tkacik also added his concerns that Taiwan might become a special administrative
region of China, and Taiwan’s sovereignty and survival would be seriously
challenged if the country signed the ECFA with Beijing.
Former presidential advisor Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏), World United Formosans for
Independence chairman Ng Chiau-tong (黃昭堂), and head of the Hand-in-Hand Taiwan
Alliance, Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) also attended the press conference.
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