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ECFA threat to middle class: think tank
NEW LOSERS: Taiwan Thinktank said a cross-strait trade
pact would endanger the jobs of 5.9 million white-collar workers, and that
Chinese professionals are already flowing in
By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Apr 11, 2010, Page 1
The middle class would emerge as new losers if Taipei and Beijing sign an
economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), the Taiwan Thinktank said
yesterday.
Thinktank executive director Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said once an ECFA is signed,
the jobs of Taiwan’s 5.9 million workers in service industries, traditional
industries, electronics and petrochemicals would be threatened.
Cheng made the remarks during a panel discussion in Taipei yesterday. The event,
titled “Who is the New Loser of ECFA — the Unemployment Crisis of the Middle
Class,” was the second of a series of forums organized by the think tank to
debunk what it called myths of the proposed cross-strait trade pact.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government hopes to sign the proposed deal
next month or in June. Taipei and Beijing concluded the second round of
negotiations in Taoyuan last week.
Cheng said that while the government reiterated it would not allow more Chinese
workers to enter the local market, it has amended certain laws and regulations
to let them in under the categories of investment, business activities,
international enterprises and professional technicians.
“We don’t have to wait until the ECFA is signed to see an influx of Chinese
workers. They are already here,” she said. “What is more alarming is the
unemployment of the middle class.”
Cheng accused Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) and
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) of lying about the negative impact
of ECFA on white-collar workers.
Cheng said Lai claimed that only 13 white-collar Chinese are currently working
in Taiwan and that each Chinese company investing US$33 million is allowed to
send a maximum of seven managerial staff members here.
An MAC press release dated April 6 said that 15 white-collar Chinese have
applied to work in Taiwan so far this year.
However, Cheng said, Lai failed to mention that Chinese-invested firms are
allowed to send an unlimited number of professionals as long as they are
considered to be “making a contribution” to the local economy, job market and
society and obtain the approval of related government agencies.
While Lai emphasized the legislature must amend the Statute Governing the
Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area
(台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) before they could relax restrictions on Chinese labor, Cheng
said Chinese nationals with a bachelor’s or master’s degree and two years of
related experience can already work in Taiwan as a manager or professional
technician.
The Ministry of the Interior also amended the Act Governing Approval for
Mainland Area Professionals to Engage in Professional Activities in Taiwan
(大陸地區專業人士來台從事專業活動許可辦法) last year and this year to allow Chinese nationals
conducting business activities in Taiwan to stay longer, she said, adding that
white-collar Chinese workers can also take advantage of cooperation between
companies on both sides to work in Taiwan.
Liu Chin-hsin (劉進興), a chemical engineering professor at National Taiwan
University of Science and Technology, said the ECFA would benefit certain
industries such as petrochemicals, steel, textiles and machinery.
Taking the petrochemical industry as an example, Liu said the trade pact was
bound to serve the interests of upper stream companies such as Formosa
Petrochemical and CPC, Taiwan. The former is expected to benefit more because
its products mainly target the Chinese market.
Liu said the ECFA would have a more far-reaching impact on Taiwan than the WTO.
The administration must not only spend more time negotiating an ECFA, but also
mapping out a contingency plan, he said.
Taiwan must also develop a closer relationship with the US, Japan and EU when
seeking trade normalization with China, he said. Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an
economics professor at National Central University, said white-collar workers
will not be the only ones suffering if an ECFA is signed. Traditional industries
and small and medium-sized businesses would be hit hard as cheaper Chinese
products flood the local market and salaries would nosedive, he said.
Chiou said the administration was “irresponsible” for claiming the proposed
accord would boost GDP by 1.7 percent and create more than a quarter of a
million jobs because the methodology and models that produced the figures were
flawed.
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