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DPP report lays out
threats of service pact
By Lee Hsin-fang and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with staff
writer
The opening up of Taiwanˇ¦s telecommunications enterprises to Chinese investors
under the new service trade pact risks jeopardizing the nationˇ¦s freedoms of
correspondence and speech, communication integrity and healthy exchange of
ideas, according to the Democratic Progressive Partyˇ¦s (DPP) evaluation report
on the recently inked cross-strait agreement.
ˇ§Given Chinese telecom companiesˇ¦ cooperation with the Chinese government in
screening and monitoring public opinion online and the fact that members of the
Chinese Communist Party are based in such firms and exerting control over them,
the agreement would mostly likely pose the aforementioned threats to Taiwan,ˇ¨
the report said.
Under the accord signed in Shanghai on June 21, the sectors in the Type II
telecommunications enterprises to be open to Chinese investment include store
and forward network service, store and retrieve network service and data
exchange communication service.
The agreement will see Taiwan opening up another 63 service sectors to Chinese
investors, while China will open 80 sectors.
The report said the accord could also exacerbate unemployment, poverty and
public security problems, since the Taiwanese sectors included in the accord
cover nearly every aspect of daily life, many of which are non-competitive,
small and community-oriented industries.
ˇ§These sectors already had a hard time keeping their businesses afloat before
the agreement was signed,ˇ¨ the report said.
ˇ§Now, they are left vulnerable as Chinese businesspeople invade Taiwan with
their deep pockets to carve up the nationˇ¦s markets, and even take away jobs
from Taiwanese by entering the country claiming to be a business proprietor or
manager,ˇ¨ it said.
Singling out the Chinese herbal sector, which is covered by the accord, the
report said that because the sector was a non-competitive industry and was
overly dependent on imports of China-grown herbs, the party worries that the
agreement could cause a technology outflow in the industry and endanger local
businesses.
As for Taiwanˇ¦s hairdressing industry, one of the sectors expected to take the
brunt of the agreementˇ¦s negative impacts, the report said that if Chinese
businesses are allowed to invest in the industry and open salon chains in the
country, Taiwanese women could face worse working conditions and fewer
employment opportunities than they have now.
ˇ§Furthermore, it could cause the same impact on local hair salons as the one
made by convenience store chains on traditional grocery stores,ˇ¨ the report
added.
The report also questions the fairness of the accord, saying that strong service
sectors, such as legal and accounting services, are exempted from the agreement
because of their lobbying efforts, while small and medium-sized businesses and
community-centered industries were sacrificed so that large-sized enterprises
can invest in Chinaˇ¦s financial sectors.
The large-scale exodus of Taiwanese businesses to China, coupled with the rising
trend among local industries to receive their orders in Taiwan, but manufacture
products in China, have contributed to the nationˇ¦s relatively high unemployment
rate and an average salary that has remained stagnant over the past 16 years,
the report said.
They have also impeded local businessesˇ¦ attempts to update and make structural
adjustments, the report added.
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