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DPP plans anti-ECFA rally, referendum
By Vincent Y. Chao and Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTERS
Thursday, Jun 10, 2010, Page 3
“China will never let Taiwan follow in Hong Kong’s footsteps.”— Kenneth Lin,
professor of economics at National Taiwan University
In addition to staging a large-scale rally later this month, the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday it would also put forth a new referendum
proposal, petitioning for a public vote to be held on a controversial
cross-strait trade pact once it has gone through a legislative review.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government hopes to ink an economic
cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China this month, with both
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) having said that a
signed ECFA would be subject to a legislative review before the agreement takes
effect.
Sources familiar with the negotiation process said that the government could
sign the agreement around the time of the weeklong Straits Forum, to be held
from tomorrow to June 25 in China’s Fujian Province. A large number of
high-level Chinese officials are expected to attend the event.
Julian Kuo (郭正亮), a member of the DPP task force in charge of responding to ECFA-related
issues, said yesterday that if the agreement went through a legislative review,
the party would launch a signature drive to petition for a referendum on the
ECFA.
The DPP’s latest ECFA referendum proposal will be the third on this issue.
Before the Referendum Review Committee last week rejected an ECFA referendum
proposed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), the DPP late last year had
initiated an ECFA referendum, which the Referendum Review Committee also
rejected. The committee said the referendum question proposed by the DPP was
based on a hypothetical scenario.
Similar proposals raised in the legislature by DPP lawmakers have also been
rejected.
Kuo said the new referendum proposal question would first be reviewed by a team
of legal professionals to ensure that it could sidestep some of the problems
that the review committee cited in the earlier proposals.
As for the planned anti-ECFA rally in Taipei City later this month, DPP
officials said it will most likely take place on June 26, pending confirmation
by the party’s Central Standing Committee.
That date is likely to be close to when the government is to sign the trade
agreement with China, which the DPP says could have a disastrous effects on
Taiwan’s middle class and more vulnerable industries because of a flood of cheap
goods
Citing polls that show a sharp divide in support for the agreement, the DPP says
that an ECFA should first be subject to a public vote before it becomes valid.
That issue, including the rejection of the TSU referendum proposal last week,
is expected to be a focus of the upcoming rally.
The theme of the DPP rally is to be: “Opposition against a one-China common
market; a public referendum should decide.”
A DPP-sponsored event was held on Saturday in Kaohsiung City in support of a
referendum on an ECFA. Reuters reported that a low turnout at the event signaled
a “broad but guarded acceptance of the deal by the Taiwanese public,” which the
DPP strongly denied.
Kuo said the June 26 rally could draw up to 200,000 people. The party will not
issue a mobilization order asking supporters to join until the date is approved
by the party’s Standing Committee meeting.
In related news, Hung Tsai-lung (洪財隆), an associate research fellow at the
Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, said on Tuesday at an ECFA forum that
once the trade deal is signed, Taiwan must open up 90 percent of its market to
China within 10 years.
“But so far, no one has ever seen the plan or schedule of how they have decided
to do it,” he said.
The Ma government has seen the short-term interests, but overlooked the
long-term development of the country’s industries, he said, adding that as
Beijing showed no sign of changing its attitude toward Taiwan, it was wishful
thinking that Taiwan could ink free trade agreements with other countries once
an ECFA is signed.
Kenneth Lin (林向愷), a professor of economics at National Taiwan University, said
although Hong Kong signed a closer economic partnership (CEP) with New Zealand
in March, he did not think China would allow Taiwan to do so for political
reasons.
“While China has taken back Hong Kong and rules it under the model of ‘one
China, two systems,’ the political arrangement for Taiwan still remains in the
balance,” he said. “Unless Taiwan agrees to accept such an arrangement, China
will never let Taiwan follow in Hong Kong’s footsteps because there is a chance
of a change of government in Taiwan in 2012.”
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