Taiwan opponents of ECFA with China to stage 3-day protest from May 20
11 May 2010
Taiwan opponents of ECFA with China to stage 3-day protest from May 20
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Former Premier Frank Hsieh will take part in three days of protests against the planned Economic Cooperation Framework with China beginning May 20, the second anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou’s inauguration, the organizers announced Tuesday.
The government wants to sign the accord next month, but a third round of negotiations originally expected to take place in China this week has been postponed, reports said Monday.
The May 20-22 action will combine sit-in protests with marches, organizer Lee Ying-yuan told a news conference announcing its web site. Supporters will also be able to “adopt” protests by two-hour sections. The sit-in area will provide Internet service to let protesters who bring along their computer disseminate their ideas and footage of the demonstration to a worldwide public, Lee said.
The former Democratic Progressive Party government politician said the protest would begin on May 20 at noon and last until midnight at the end of May 22. The organizers would not mobilize large masses, so it was not important how many people participated, Lee said.
Most of the protests would take place around the Legislative Yuan in downtown Taipei, though Lee would not exclude it could expand in the direction of the Presidential Office Building. The organizers were still drawing up their plans and applying for the right to hold demonstrations on the roads in the area, he said.
Lee told reporters he had invited DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen and former Premier Su Tseng-chang, who wants to represent the party in the year-end Taipei mayoral elections, to attend the protest, though he didn’t know whether they would appear. Only Hsieh had promised he would attend the protest throughout, the organizers said.
The opponents of ECFA also plan a protest on June 6, closer to the expected signing of the accord.
In addition, the Executive Yuan’s Referendum Review Committee is expected to announce a ruling on June 3 on whether it accepts an ECFA referendum proposal coming from the Taiwan Solidarity Union.
If the verdict is positive, the TSU will have to start collecting more than 860,000 signatures, or 5 percent of eligible voters in the most recent presidential election, before the issue can be put on the ballot.
