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Groups urge trade
agreement review
ULTIMATUM: At a rally, civic groups demanded
Premier Jiang Yi-huah ensure that the agreement is reviewed by the legislature
before being validated, or resign from office
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter
Civic group members rally outside
the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday to protest the signing of a cross-strait
service trade agreement with China, demanding that the legislature conduct a
review of the pact.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) should step
down if he does not guarantee that the service trade agreement with China will
not be validated until the legislature conducts a de facto review of it, civic
groups said yesterday as they rallied outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei
yesterday to protest the signing of the pact.
“The premier should publicly promise that he will not validate the pact until
the Legislative Yuan reviews and approves it. If he does not promise this, or
unilaterally validates the agreement, we call on lawmakers to dissolve the
Cabinet and boycott it by all means possible,” Cross-Strait Agreements Watch
convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.
“This is an agreement that will have a huge impact on workers and yet the
government not only declined to allow the public to participate in the
decisionmaking process prior to the pact’s signing, it is now not allowing
public involvement after the signing,” Lai said.
The service agreement was signed by the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits on Friday last week.
Under the pact, Chinese capital and personnel will be allowed to enter some
industries in Taiwan’s service sector and Taiwan will be granted to access to
some Chinese industries.
The development has caused concern among many Taiwanese, who worry that Chinese
capital may marginalize Taiwanese capital and that Chinese workers will take job
opportunities from their local counterparts.
Though the content of the agreement was kept hidden from the public and the
Legislative Yuan, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-majority legislature is
likely to approve it without going through the details.
Taiwan Labour Front secretary-general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said that neither the
government nor the service industry are fully prepared to meet the new
challenges that they will face after the pact is implemented.
“The government should not validate the service trade pact without being fully
prepared for its effects,” Son said. “We would especially like to protest the
government’s plan to allow Chinese workers into Taiwan in such a rash and
underprepared manner.”
Taiwan Rural Front researcher Hsu Po-jen (許博任) said that almost everyone would
be affected by the new deal and urged the public to pay more attention to it.
“Running water, electricity, gas, education — everything that we thought would
be protected by the government may become corporate-controlled,” Hsu said.
“Thinking beyond China, with the KMT and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) support
for free trade and economic liberalization, not only Chinese capital, but also
US, South Korean, or Japanese capital could be in control of our lives,” Hsu
added.
“We have to shout our opposition to any kind of free trade that favors
multinational corporations,” he added.
After Executive Yuan official Chang Hung-chun (張洪均) took the petition from the
protesters — without making any comments — the demonstrators moved to the
Legislative Yuan to meet with the Democratic Progressive Party, People First
Party and Taiwan Solidarity caucuses to discuss further action in the
legislature against the agreement.
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