[ Video Courtesy of NTDTV ]
TAIPEI—More than one hundred thousand opponents took to the streets on June 26 to protest the upcoming signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China. Officials say that the deal will cut tariffs on 539 products and open up service industries, giving a major boost of around $100 billion in annual two-way trade. But opponents believe the ECFA will sink Taiwan’s economy and democracy into a dire future, and eventually will help China to “unify” Taiwan.Critics say once the deal is in effect, cheap goods from China will flood the Taiwanese market and cause significant unemployment in Taiwan. The economic impact, people fear, will leave Taiwan too weak to defend against China’s political unification plans.
Eighty seven-year-old former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui spoke at the rally.
Lee said, “The ECFA is a sham of the Chinese communist regime. Under the disguise of benefiting Taiwan, the regime will steal Taiwan’s capital, talent, and technology. It can’t be more obvious that the regime aims at taking over Taiwan.”
Lee urged Taiwan’s people to protect Taiwan with democracy and make their voices heard in the year-end municipal elections.
In an earlier press conference, Lee quoted from Taiwan Disaster, authored by Yuan Hongbing, saying the Chinese communist regime has officially claimed that the nature of economic unification is for Taiwan to gain economic benefits and for China to realize political unification.
Tsai Ing-wen, chairperson of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said the pact will lock Taiwan into China’s economic system. She said the deal will benefit large enterprises at the expense of the majority of Taiwanese.
Tsai warned that if the deal is signed, “our next generation will have a hard time finding jobs, and our salaries will freeze.”
For many Taiwanese, today’s Hong Kong represents the sinister future of a China-dependent Taiwan. Ms. Chan, a finance professional, said she came all the way from Hong Kong to join the rally.
“After Hong Kong signed the CEPA [Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement] with China, hot money from China flooded into the stock and real estate markets,” Can said. “It overheated the economy and damaged the market structure.”
Chan said the ECFA will impact Taiwan even more because Taiwan’s economy, supported mainly by agriculture and manufacturing industries, is more vulnerable to Chinese influence than Hong Kong’s financial industry-based economy.
“The ECFA is not just an economic phenomenon, but also a huge impact on social ideology,” Chan said. “Hong Kong, for example, is losing sight of democracy and human rights as a result of the over-reliance on mainland China.”
But Taiwan has been left with little choice since China has used its political influence to block all other avenues for Taiwan’s development. For example, Taiwan has been excluded from the free trade agreement between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN Plus One), while Taiwan’s major competitors Japan and Korea will join the deal in 2015 to form the ASEAN Plus Three regional body.
In a highly competitive and low profit margin market, tariffs can be essential to an economic body’s survival. This is the major motivation for Taiwan to sign the ECFA with China.
Economics professor Kenneth S. Lin of National Taiwan University commented in an interview with New Tang Dynasty TV that China has cornered Taiwan, and is trying to hold Taiwan economically hostage.
“China has blocked all other opportunities for Taiwan. The ECFA is the only path China intentionally left open, so that Taiwan will have no choice but to rely on China and develop within China’s economic framework,” Lin said.
“After the ECFA, we may become the next Hong Kong. Actually I think we won’t even have that much freedom, because China will continue tightening its clutch.”
The ECFA is set to be signed on June 29 in Chongqing City, China.
Read the original Chinese article.
Tsai warned that if the deal is signed, “our next generation will have a hard time finding jobs, and our salaries will freeze.”
For many Taiwanese, today’s Hong Kong represents the sinister future of a China-dependent Taiwan. Ms. Chan, a finance professional, said she came all the way from Hong Kong to join the rally.
“After Hong Kong signed the CEPA [Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement] with China, hot money from China flooded into the stock and real estate markets,” Can said. “It overheated the economy and damaged the market structure.”
Chan said the ECFA will impact Taiwan even more because Taiwan’s economy, supported mainly by agriculture and manufacturing industries, is more vulnerable to Chinese influence than Hong Kong’s financial industry-based economy.
“The ECFA is not just an economic phenomenon, but also a huge impact on social ideology,” Chan said. “Hong Kong, for example, is losing sight of democracy and human rights as a result of the over-reliance on mainland China.”
But Taiwan has been left with little choice since China has used its political influence to block all other avenues for Taiwan’s development. For example, Taiwan has been excluded from the free trade agreement between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN Plus One), while Taiwan’s major competitors Japan and Korea will join the deal in 2015 to form the ASEAN Plus Three regional body.
In a highly competitive and low profit margin market, tariffs can be essential to an economic body’s survival. This is the major motivation for Taiwan to sign the ECFA with China.
Economics professor Kenneth S. Lin of National Taiwan University commented in an interview with New Tang Dynasty TV that China has cornered Taiwan, and is trying to hold Taiwan economically hostage.
“China has blocked all other opportunities for Taiwan. The ECFA is the only path China intentionally left open, so that Taiwan will have no choice but to rely on China and develop within China’s economic framework,” Lin said.
“After the ECFA, we may become the next Hong Kong. Actually I think we won’t even have that much freedom, because China will continue tightening its clutch.”
The ECFA is set to be signed on June 29 in Chongqing City, China.
Read the original Chinese article.
