Taipei, June 12 (CNA) Former President Lee Teng-hui spoke out Saturday against a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) Taiwan hopes to sign with China this month, saying that the pact should be approved through a referendum.
According to Lee, the ECFA is a one-China market framework agreement and a political economic arrangement that will jeopardize Taiwan's sovereignty, Lee said in a forum organized by Taiwan Advocates, a pro-independence think tank founded by Lee himself in 2001.
The agreement, which aims to reduce tariffs and relax cross-Taiwan Strait trade regulations, is a precursor for the eventual goal of free flow of personnel, investment, goods, technology and services across the strait and could result in a "second wave of local industries exodus, " Lee claimed.
As a World Trade Organization (WTO) member, Taiwan has the right to directly negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with China instead of "bypassing the WTO mechanism for an ECFA with China, " Lee said.
The danger of signing the ECFA, according to Lee, lies in the implication that Taiwan is in the same position as Hong Kong and Macau as special administrative regions of China, both of which have signed similar trade pacts with China.
Citing the example of Hong Kong, which signed a Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement with China in 2003, Lee said Hong Kong's economy "plummeted" after that and that he expects Taiwan to take an even harder hit because, unlike Hong Kong, most Taiwanese businesses are in the manufacturing sector.
According to Lee, the decision of the Referendum Screening Committee to reject a referendum initiative on the ECFA "was a dereliction of duty and deviated from the core value of direct democracy." The committee rejected an ECFA referendum proposal submitted by the tiny opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) June 3 on the grounds that it was not in conformity with the Referendum Act. The main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said June 4 that it will launch a "10-year war of resistance" and continue pushing for a referendum. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J