Minister says give economic pilot zones ‘a fair chance’

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

National Development Council Minister Kuan Chung-min (管中閔) yesterday defended the government’s proposal to establish free economic pilot zones and urged the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to give the policy a “fair chance” to succeed.

In an open letter published by the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday, Kuan challenged the view of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who expressed her concern and opposition to the project in a letter published by the same newspaper on Monday.

Policy for pilot zones faulty: Tsai

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) free economic pilot zones policy is based on faulty logic, which assumes more market opening would lead to economic prosperity, without recognizing the importance of upgrading Taiwan’s industrial structure, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.

Engaged in a debate in the past two weeks with the Ma administration over the impact of the planned pilot zone project, which looks to serve as a model for business convenience and liberalization, Tsai wrote an open letter, published by the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday.

Ma’s push for trade pact opposed: poll

THINK TANK SURVEY:The Taiwan Brain Trust said its latest poll found 60.5 percent of respondents see themselves as Taiwanese — the highest level in the past five surveys
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

A public opinion poll has found that a majority of respondents disapprove of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) pushing the cross-strait service trade agreement through the legislature and do not understand his free economic pilot zones project.

The latest poll conducted by the pro-independence Taiwan Brain Trust found that 60.2 percent of respondents did not support Ma telling the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus to push for the passage of the controversial trade pact in the extra legislative session that begins tomorrow, the think tank said yesterday.

Pilot zones not a solution: Tsai

‘OUTDATED’:：A former finance minister said the government’s economic policy seems to be stuck in the 1970s and 1980s, when export processing zones drove GDP growth
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Greater Taichung
Wed, Jun 11, 2014 - Page 3

A mature and open economy like Taiwan should not bank on the establishment of special economic zones to drive economic development, and even if they are necessary, they would be completely different from what President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has proposed, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.

“The DPP will demand that the government submit a comprehensive plan and assessment on how the free economic pilot zones would help upgrade Taiwan’s industry and benefit local sectors before agreeing to review the special statute awaiting screening in the legislature. The party does not rule out proposing its own initiative,” Tsai said at the conclusion of the DPP’s two-day policy meeting in Greater Taichung.

Pilot zones an ‘empty’ policy, Tsai says

ECONOMIC REVIVAL:The government should concentrate on promoting industrial upgrading and transformation, and developing core industries, the DPP leader said
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Greater Taichung

The government’s free economic pilot zones (FEPZs) project is an “empty” policy that showcases the fundamental error that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has made in its move to revive the nation’s economy, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday in Greater Taichung.

“The FEPZ project could serve as a policy tool and a supplementary measure to stimulate the domestic economy, but it should be goal-oriented and selective,” Tsai said in her opening remarks at a party policy meeting aimed at discussing key agenda for the extra legislative session that begins on Friday.

MOFA condemns protests against China in Vietnam

RIOT ACT:The foreign ministry urged Hanoi to protect Taiwanese there after protests over China’s territorial spat with Vietnam devolved into a rampage on foreign factories
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The government yesterday condemned the violent anti-China protests in Vietnam over Hanoi’s ongoing territorial dispute with Beijing, demanding that the Vietnamese government get the situation under control after the factories and offices of Taiwanese businesses in the country’s southeast were damaged during what it called “acts of rioting” by the protesters.

Speaking at a hastily convened press conference yesterday morning, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) was still trying to gather information on the factories damaged in the unrest in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces that ensued after an anti-Chinese protest devolved into a violent attack against foreign businesses on Tuesday afternoon.

KMT draws fresh fire over service trade pact review

TENSE SITUATION:The KMT legislator chairing a meeting on a probe into the trade pact abruptly called the meeting to a halt, which the DDP labeled as ‘rude’
By Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) yesterday triggered fresh controversy by passing a KMT proposal at a legislative committee meeting he was chairing to probe the signing of the cross-strait service trade agreement and abruptly calling the session to an end while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) was still speaking at the podium.

Amid the ongoing disputes over the trade pact and the government’s handling of it, a commission was created under the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee to investigate the criticisms and concerns voiced about the cross-strait negotiations that led to the deal’s signing.

LI worried about trade talks: DPP

‘DEEP CONCERN’:International political party alliance Liberal International also expressed concern over the ‘excessive use of force’ by police against protesters
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

An international alliance of political parties has expressed concerns about a lack of transparency and due procedure in the trade talks between Taiwan and China, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.

“The Liberal International [LI] expresses its deep concern at the excessive use of force by Taiwanese police against the on-going student and civil protests in Taiwan, as well as a lack of transparency and violation of due process in the government’s negotiation of the trade pact with China,” the DPP quoted the group’s press release as saying.

TAO rejects renegotiating pact

NO PRECEDENT:The Chinese official said agreements between countries should not be reconsidered, after a referendum was proposed for the cross-strait trade pact
By Peng Hsien-chun, Chris Wang and Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) yesterday said that there is no precedent for reopening negotiations on signed agreements between countries and that the “authority” of treaties inked by authorized representatives from both sides of the Taiwan Strait must be defended.

Fan made the remarks at a routine press conference in China yesterday amid growing calls for the government to renegotiate the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement it signed with Beijing on June 21 last year.

Taiwan needs to woo India: Philip Ong

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan should adopt a “pivot to India” strategy to take advantage of the South Asian country’s market potential and decrease its economic dependence on China, former representative to India Philip Ong (翁文祺) said yesterday.

“I would say that for all the strategies about Malaysia, Vietnam and other countries being planned by government agencies, such as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [MOFA], Taiwan would be better off adopting an ‘India strategy’ because it is be our best option,” Ong said on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of an India-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group.

TRADE PACT SIEGE: DPP voices conditional support for service trade pact

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said that it has never opposed free trade and would support the cross-strait service trade agreement if it was negotiated according to due process and based on the principles of reciprocity and fairness.

The Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily yesterday reported that Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the DPP said she “conditionally supported” the pact if the agreement “adhered to due process and contained a complete set of supplementary policies that would benefit Taiwan’s economy.”

TRADE PACT SIEGE: DPP to boycott legislative review of trade agreement

UNDEMOCRATIC:A student leader said that KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung should not serve as convener since he has lost legitimacy
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said it would boycott the review of the cross-strait service trade agreement by the Legislative Yuan’s joint committee today and tomorrow.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠), convener of the meeting this week, has placed the service trade agreement on the agenda to review the deal clause-by-clause.

Ma should apologize for pact: DPP

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter
Fri, Mar 21, 2014 - Page 1

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday issued an ultimatum demanding that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) apologize to the public about the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement and renegotiate the deal.

“If it were not for Ma’s grave mistakes in his handling of the agreement, the students would not be here,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told an international press conference, referring to the hundreds of protesters — mostly students — occupying the legislative chamber since Tuesday evening.

SIEGE OF LEGISLATURE: Counterproposal an improvement on trade pact: DPP

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Central Standing Committee yesterday approved a counterproposal that it said would significantly improve the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement and show that the party is ready for meaningful deliberation of the pact.

The proposal recommends dropping 18 of the 64 categories of services that Taiwan is to open to Chinese investors and further liberalization of 10 of the 80 categories that China is to open to Taiwanese investment.

Opposition, groups protest trade pact

‘COUNTERMEASURES’:：Over 300 students and demonstrators took over the Legislative Yuan while the DPP is to propose a ‘better agreement’ than the current service trade pact
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter
Wed, Mar 19, 2014 - Page 1

Opposition parties and civic groups are working together on a full-scale protest that includes legislative boycotts, a “siege” of the legislature and street rallies after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) cut short the review of the cross-strait service trade agreement on Monday and sent the pact directly to the plenary session for its second reading.

At about 9pm, more than 300 students and demonstrators broke from the rally outside the Legislative Yuan, broke into the compound and took over the podium on the legislative floor.

Protesters slam KMT over pact

STAYING PUT:Opponents of the cross-strait service trade agreement staged an impromptu sit-in in front of the legislature in Taipei and issued six demands
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Advocates and dozens of civic groups yesterday condemned the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus for sending the cross-strait service trade agreement to a plenary session without it being screened, adding that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the KMT “have declared war on Taiwan’s democracy.”

In a joint meeting of eight legislative committees to review the controversial pact, yesterday’s agenda was put forth by the KMT caucus, leading the Democratic Progressive Party to criticize the ruling party for “forcing” a final vote on the agreement — one the KMT would be sure to win.

Trade pact review meeting cut short

NO POINTS OF ORDER:Lawmakers spent the time allotted to the service trade pact review meeting chanting slogans and verbally attacking each other
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The controversial cross-strait service trade agreement was sent to the Legislative Yuan’s plenary session yesterday without a single minute of deliberation in a joint committee review meeting that was marred by physical and verbal confrontations among pan-blue and pan-green camp lawmakers as both sides accused each other of lacking “democratic maturity.”

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers had occupied the meeting room’s podium since noon yesterday and prevented Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Ching-chung (張慶忠) from presiding over the meeting, which was called off after three hours without actually commencing.

Violent skirmish, condemnations mark second day

By Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter
Fri, Mar 14, 2014 - Page 3

The second day of a legislative meeting scheduled to review the cross-strait service trade pact was marked with clashes and condemnations between lawmakers of the two political camps.

“There may be differences in opinion between different parties, but these differences should be resolved through negotiation, not violence,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) told a press conference yesterday. “We condemn the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] caucus for using violence against our caucus office director Chiang Kui-fang [江桂芳].”

Most support line-by-line cross-strait review: survey

NOT IN FAVOR:Of those polled, 44.5 percent said they did not support the trade pact, with 32.8 percent supportive and 22.9 percent not giving an answer
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

A clause-by-clause review of the cross-strait service trade pact was supported by a majority of respondents in a poll released yesterday, and almost half said the pact would pose a significant national security threat if passed.

Asked how they viewed the service trade pact — which is awaiting legislative review before taking effect — 73.7 percent said they supported a line-by-line review, while 10.2 percent said the deal should be put to a vote as a package and 16.1 percent did not give an opinion in the survey conducted by Taiwan Indicator Survey Research (TISR).

Lawmakers get ready to tackle thorny trade pact

CONVENER:The DPP and the KMT are fighting each other’s right to have a party member chair a joint committee that will review the cross-strait agreement
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Lawmakers are gearing up for battle today at the Legislative Yuan over who should preside over a joint committee meeting to screen the controversial cross-strait service trade agreement and whether the pact should be reviewed line-by-line, as stated in a previous consensus.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have been arguing over who should serve as the convener of the meeting, which includes all eight legislative committees. The convener, who will also serve as chairman, is expected to gain the upper hand in dictating the meeting’s procedure.