|
DPP says ECFA claims
are overblown
‘PART FANTASY’: The opposition said that the
cross-strait trade agreement had failed to bring investment back to Taiwan, and
instead resulted in capital outflows
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporters, with
CNA
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday criticized the cross-strait
Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) “part fantasy,” saying it had
failed to generate any substantial gains for Taiwan’s economy, while at a
separate setting the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) attributed the nation’s
significant growth in exports of certain agricultural products to the trade
pact.
At a press conference marking the first anniversary of the trade pact’s signing,
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said exports of tea,
orchids, grouper, milk fish and other agricultural products had increased 526
percent year-on-year to US$49.42 million during the January-to-May period after
the ECFA took effect at the start of the year.
The figures show that critics of the trade deal are wrong and that the
government has kept its promise to safeguard the interests of local farmers when
it was negotiating the pact with China, Lai said.
Taiwan’s total exports to China rose 11.1 percent from the same period last
year, but Taiwan was not overly dependent on China as its percentage of total
exports had dropped from 43.3 percent last year to 40.7 percent this year, she
added.
DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), however, criticized government claims over
the benefits of the ECFA at a press conference, saying that the pact had failed
to spur domestic investment and instead accelerated capital outflows to China.
It has also failed to lift salaries, which have remained stagnant for the last
decade, Chen said.
Chen said the DPP was of the opinion that the government’s rosy projections had
fallen short and claims that the ECFA would create jobs and increase Taiwanese
exports had failed to materialize.
“Instead, Taiwan’s income gap has grown to a historic high of 75 times [between
the richest and poorest 5 percent], unemployment is still the highest among the
Four Asian Tigers, and average salaries have fallen to levels seen 12 years
ago,” he said.
Initial claims that the ECFA would spur the return of Taiwanese manufacturers
have instead turned the other way around, Chen said, adding that the trade pact
had increased the likelihood that companies would relocate to China to export
back to Taiwan, taking advantage of lowered tariffs.
He said the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) needed to carefully
review and “fix” the agreement.
DPP Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has vowed to
reassess the trade pact if elected next year, but has stopped short of calling
for its nullification. Her remarks have largely been toned down since last year,
when she openly called for a referendum on the ECFA.
In related developments, Bill Cho (卓士昭), director-general of the Ministry of
Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Foreign Trade, said Taiwan was exploring the
feasibility of an economic cooperation agreement with India and the Philippines
with a view to signing free-trade agreements (FTA) with the two trade partners.
Cho said Indonesia had also expressed interest in conducting a feasibility study
for a trade deal with Taiwan, while the Taiwanese government was actively
seeking to make it into the list of Asian countries that are negotiating FTAs
with the EU.
In the lead-up to signing the ECFA, the government claimed that the trade pact
would pave the way for Taiwan to enter bilateral FTAs with other countries.
Singapore was the first country to hold talks with Taiwan on signing a trade
deal, doing so in August last year.
After the feasibility study with Singapore, which concluded that an economic
cooperation agreement would benefit both countries, Taiwan and Singapore have
launched formal talks focusing on tariffs, the opening of the service sector and
economic partnerships.
|
