Hsieh touts `Taiwan first' trade policy
　

NO SACRIFICE: The DPP candidate said he would never allow people to 'hollow out' the nation by leaving debts behind while investing in companies based in China
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Mar 03, 2008, Page 3

　

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh, second left, chats with his running mate Su Tseng-chang, while his wife, Yu Fang-chih, right, talks with Su's wife Chan Hsiu-ling during a break at a campaign rally in Taichung City yesterday. PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday that his cross-strait economic policy was meant to uphold sovereignty and national interests while facilitating cross-strait trade.

Hsieh said he was in favor of further opening up cross-strait trade, but added that the nation's security, dignity and national interests should never be sacrificed.

"Europeans held a referendum to decide whether they wanted a common market," he said. "No matter where you were born, Hong Kong or Taiwan, and now matter how long you have lived in Taiwan, you [the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)] don't have the right to push the `cross-strait common market' without the consent of the people."

Hsieh made the remarks while addressing a campaign rally organized by four social groups -- the Rotary Club, the Lions Club, the Junior Chamber and Kiwani Taiwan -- in Taichung County yesterday morning.

Hsieh said he would never allow local businesses to hollow out Taiwan by leaving debts behind while investing in China. While direct transportation links are desirable, they must be in the form of charter flight services, Hsieh said.

Charter flight services can be offered during the Lunar New Year, on weekends, in the morning and at night, but they cannot be defined as domestic routes or as part of a policy that defines Taiwan as part of the People's Republic of China, he said.

While KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has pledged to complete the negotiation on charter flights and regular direct flight services within a year should he become president, Hsieh said he would like to know whether Ma would agree to Beijing's designation of the routes as domestic.

At a separate event in Taichung yesterday afternoon, Hsieh said he opposed the KMT's proposed "cross-strait common market," which he said went against global trends.

Once such a policy is in place, Hsieh said unemployment would rise while social security would suffer. He proposed to maintain the ban on the import of Chinese laborers, strengthen the crackdown on smuggling from China and bolster inspection mechanisms for food and products imported from China.

If elected, Hsieh said that he promised to be "a protector of Taiwan" and put the interests of the nation and its people above everything else.

"I am the captain of the ship," he said. "I am safe and have a future only if this country is safe and has a future."

A national leader cannot change the course set by his predecessors and derail their project, Hsieh said, adding that Ma was forcing the nation toward annexation by China.

At another event in Kaohsiung yesterday, Ma running mate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) called Hsieh's attack on the "cross-strait common market" proposed by him in 2000 a "dirty trick."

Siew accused Hsieh of "twisting" the meaning of the "cross-strait common market" policy by describing it as a "one China" market.

He again vowed not to relax the limits on Chinese agricultural imports if the KMT won the presidency.

He said the KMT would not allow laborers or smuggling from China.

Academics deplore Referendum Law
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Mar 03, 2008, Page 3

Rather than encourage direct democracy, in its present form the Referendum Law (公民投票法), with its high proposal and passage requirements, is blocking it, participants at a forum in Taipei said yesterday.

"The Referendum Law needs some changes," Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin Feng-cheng (林峰正) told the forum, which had been organized by the Constitution Reform Alliance.

Jou Yi-cheng (周奕成), convener of the Third Society Party, agreed.

"The high requirements contained in the Referendum Law mean that only the president, the legislature and major political parties can propose a referendum," Jou said.

"Instead of facilitating direct democracy, referendums have been turned into yet another arena for major parties to fight outside the legislature," he said.

"We must give back the power to make referendum petitions -- a tool of direct democracy -- to the people," he said.

According to the law, referendum proposals must be accompanied by signatures of more than 0.5 percent of the number of voters in the most recent presidential election.

After the Central Election Commission (CEC) approves a referendum proposal, the petitioner must gather the endorsement of more than 5 percent of the number of people who voted in the most recent presidential election within six months following the CEC's approval.

In current terms, this means that a proposal for a referendum must first receive 82,000 signatures and be endorsed by 820,000 people.

A referendum is passed only once more than 50 percent of eligible voters have voted on it and more that 50 percent of those who voted in the referendum supported it.

Other than collecting signatures, the president and the legislature may also make proposals.

"To better describe it, we should rather call the Referendum Law the `Referendum Blockage Law,'" Lin said.

Aside from the high thresholds, Green Party Taiwan secretary-general Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) also criticized the "50 percent eligible voter turnout" rule.

"Since the law requires a 50 percent eligible voter turnout to pass a referendum, the opponent of a proposal can simply boycott a referendum by asking people not to take referendum ballots at polling stations," Pan said.

"Moreover, those who, for various reasons, could not make it to polling stations would become de facto opponents of a referendum proposal," he said.

"I think it would be more reasonable if the passage of a referendum depended on the number of `yes' votes received rather than how many people voted on it," Pan said.