Tsai wants ECFA referendum in 2012 if DPP wins election
Taiwan News | 2010-04-29
Tsai wants ECFA referendum in 2012 if DPP wins election
Opponents of the accord are planning to rally 1 million people for protests on June 6
Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen wants a referendum to abrogate the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China if her party regains power in the 2012 presidential election, reports said yesterday.
President Ma Ying-jeou wants to sign the accord in June, while opponents are still in the process of gathering signatures for a referendum. The Central Election Commission and a government review committee still have to approve the referendum before the second phase of the signatures campaign can begin.
If the government and China still signed ECFA in June as planned, the DPP would launch a referendum to ask whether the people of Taiwan really wanted the deal, Tsai said in an interview with Sanlih E-TV broadcast Tuesday evening.
The DPP says ECFA will harm Taiwan’s sovereignty as well as harm its economy, especially the more traditional sectors.
Tsai conducted a televised debate with Ma about ECFA last Sunday, while opponents of the accord are planning to rally 1 million people for protests on June 6, shortly before the expected signing.
DPP spokesman Tsai Chi-chang confirmed that if Ma failed to listen to the voice of the people and went ahead with ECFA without waiting for a referendum, an eventual new DPP administration would let the people decide whether they wanted the agreement to continue or not.
ECFA would lead to the biggest redistribution of wealth in Taiwan history, he said. The gap between rich and poor had already reached serious proportions, but the experience of Hong Kong after signing a Closer Economic Partnership Agreement with China showed that the disparity could grow even worse, the spokesman said.
In Sunday’s debate, Ma failed to provide answers to key questions about the damage ECFA would inflict on Taiwanese workers, while he also did not have an alternative ready, Tsai said.
Presidential spokesman Lo Chih-chiang accused the DPP chairwoman of only thinking about the 2012 election, and not about the future of Taiwan’s economy.
He repeated accusations made by Ma during the debate, including the opening of Taiwan to the import of 936 types of Chinese farm produce by the previous DPP administration. Lo reiterated that Ma had not allowed in a single new type of products since taking office two years ago.
Tsai said during the debate that the DPP government had been forced to liberalize farm imports to win Taiwan’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2002. Most of the items did not compete with the produce from Taiwanese farmers, she said.
Tsai predicted that by signing ECFA, Taiwan would be forced to allow the import of another 600 farm products from China within ten years.
