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Protesters demand full review of ECFA
‘PEOPLE ARE MASTERS’: The protesters also called for a referendum on the
pact, saying that the controversy should be settled democratically by the
Taiwanese public
By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jul 05, 2010, Page 1
Members of pro-localization organizations
yesterday release pigeons outside the legislature in Taipei during a
demonstration ahead of the legislative review of the Economic Cooperation
Framework Agreement, which could begin on Wednesday.
PHOTO: CNA
Dozens of demonstrators yesterday staged a protest outside the legislature to
demand that lawmakers stringently review the Economic Cooperation Framework
Agreement (ECFA) that Taiwan and China signed on Tuesday.
Wearing T-shirts with the inscription “the people are the masters” and billing
themselves as a non-violent protest group, the group silently marched around
the building holding placards reading “an ECFA referendum is a basic human
right.”
“It’s difficult for us to believe how the [Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)]-dominated
legislature can stand up for public interests when it reviews and monitors the
ECFA,” said Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君), an executive director at the People Sovereignty
Action Network, which organized the rally.
“We want the arguments over the ECFA to be settled by the Taiwanese public and
democratically so,” she said.
The ECFA, which will lower cross-strait trade barriers and customs tariffs, was
signed in the Chinese city of Chongqing despite heavy protests by opposition
parties and a number of pro-independence groups last week.
Lawmakers must approve the trade pact before it can become valid. Both the KMT
and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucuses have proposed calling a
provisional session on Wednesday to screen and finalize the ECFA.
The KMT caucus hopes the agreement will be debated and passed as a single
package, without having to approve it clause by clause — a move that has drawn
heavy opposition from both yesterday’s protesters and DPP lawmakers.
The DPP said the ECFA document should be subject to the same legislative
screening as other bills.
“Despite our small numbers, we will not let the government pass the ECFA review
easily … we will fight this to the end,” DPP Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國) said
in the legislature on Saturday.
These calls were repeated by the 90 protesters, who wore straw hats to protect
themselves in the heat as the temperature reached 37°C. The group first gathered
at the 228 Peace Park in the morning before heading to the legislature across
the street.
During the 0.5km walk, the protesters, most middle-aged and above, occasionally
broke into a song with one line of lyrics: “I love Taiwan.”
“I’m very worried that this ECFA, if approved, will take away Taiwan’s
sovereignty and move our country closer to China,” an elderly protester surnamed
Lee said.
“The ECFA could eventually make Taiwan part of China, like Hong Kong and Macau,”
another protester said.
Speaking during the march, Cheng said that because the ECFA prompted so much
controversy, the Referendum Review Committee should have agreed last month to
public demands to hold a nationwide plebiscite on the issue.
The committee rejected two proposals — one by the DPP and another by the Taiwan
Solidarity Union (TSU) — that would have asked voters whether they agreed with
the government’s move to sign the ECFA. The 21-member committee based its
decisions on “problems” with the wording of the question and the content of the
proposals.
A third proposal, also by the TSU, is currently under review.
The failed bids show how the review committee and the Referendum Act (公民投票法)
place unfair limits on democracy, said Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱), another official at
the action network.
“It’s a birdcage law that restricts the basic human rights,” he said. “It’s
extremely unreasonable and it needs to be revised.”
Standing in front of the crowd, he later opened up a cardboard box containing
six pigeons and said their release represented the aspirations of Taiwanese.
“We call on the legislature … to first break the birdcage referendum law, revise
the referendum law and then review the ECFA,” he said.
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