dpp newsletter june 2010

8/9/2019 DPP Newsletter June 2010

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JUNE 2010

PAGE 1

On June 26, the DPP or-

ganized a Taipei parade to

call for a national referen-

dum on ECFA. DPP can-

didates for the Big-5 elec-

tions, Tsai Ing-wen, Chen

Chu, Su Tseng-chang, SuChia-chuan and Lai

Ching-te led the parade.

Former Vice President

Annette Lu, Former Pre-

miers Frank Hsieh and

You Si-kun were also pre-

sent to show their opposi-

tion to ECFA.

The DPP was also

joined by nearly 160 civicorganizations showing

their resolution to protect Taiwan’s interest against the Ma Administration’s push for closer relations with

China. The alliance mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets to voice their opposi-

tion to the current government's policy on China.

Earlier on June 3rd, the Executive Yuan's Referendum Review Committee rejected a referendum ini-

tiative proposed by the Taiwan Solidarity Union that would have allowed the people in Taiwan to decide

if the signing of ECFA was beneficial for Taiwan.

DPP Special Report on ECFA

... continued on the next pag e

DEMOCRACY & PROGRESS

Parade for ECFA Referendum



JUNE 2010

PAGE 2

Simultaneously, the DPP pub-

lished a public survey concern-

ing the public’s views on ECFA.

45.6% of the respondents saidthey preferred ECFA to be signed

“after the government prepares a

set of measures” to manage the

possible impact of the agree-

ment. Also in the survey, 51.1%

said that dismissing the referen-

dum was not an appropriate deci-

sion, while 32.6% said it was

reasonable.Based on the survey, the ut-

most concern of the public is

whether the government will be

able to establish a set of com-

plementary measures to guard

industries considered vulnerable

in the liberalization of trade with

China. The survey was con-

ducted on June 14 by telephoneamong adults 20 years-old and

older. A total of 1,093 valid sam-

ples were obtained.

The Ma administration has set as

its goal the signing of ECFA with

China. As this is an important

issue for Taiwan, the DPP has

conducted various surveys re-

garding public reaction to ECFA

and, on June 24, the results of the

latest survey gives reason for the

DPP to show concern.

There are still nearly 70% of

the public who are unclear about

the contents and the impact of

ECFA. Even though the govern-

ment has repeatedly said that

ECFA will bring major economic

benefits for Taiwan’s economy,

the survey shows more than 70%

of the public believe these bene-

fits are only favorable to large

enterprises. Simultaneously, the

majority of the public showed

concern that after ECFA is

signed, the problem of lowered

wages, unemployment and the

wealth gap will get worse.

Based on the June 24 survey,

the following issues appeared to

be concerns of the Taiwanese

public:

• 43.2% of the public believe

that, after signing ECFA, their

personal income will be re-

duced. Only

26.2% be-

lieve that

their per-

sonal in-

come will

increase

while

18.4% be-

lieve there

will be no

great dif-

ference.

• From a self-identified social

class point of view, among

those who identified them-

selves as coming from the

“lower class”, there were

nearly 60% (58.8%) who be-

lieve their personal income

will be reduced after signing

ECFA.

Latest DPP survey on ECFA shows reasons for concern




JUNE 2010

PAGE 3


• 64.3% of the public believe that after ECFA,

their “financial burden” will increase while

13.9% believe it will decrease and 11% said

that it will remain about the same.

• Regardless of social class, the majority be-

lieve that, after ECFA, their financial burden

will continue to increase.

The following is the public’s view of the impact

of ECFA to Taiwan’s overall social environ-

ment:

• 52.3% of the public believe that, after sign-

ing ECFA, the unemployment problem in

Taiwan will get worse while 38.1% of the

public believe that it will improve.

• From a self-identified social class point of

view, those who identified themselves as

coming from the “lower class”, 67% believe

that the unemployment problem will get

worse. Among those who identified them-

selves as coming from the “middle class”,

the proportion between a pessimistic and

optimistic view regarding the unemployment problem was 48% and 44% respectively.

Among those who identified themselves as

coming from the “upper class”, 53% believe

the unemployment problem will improve

while 39% said that it will get worse.

• 86% of the

public believe

that, after

ECFA is

signed, the

wealth gap in

Taiwan will

increase

while 7.1% of

the public

believe it will

decrease.

• Regardless of

social class,

over 84% of

the public

believe the

wealth gap in Taiwan will become even

more evident after signing ECFA.

The survey was conducted by the DPP Survey

Center June 22 to 23. The sampling number

was 1,089 individuals with a sampling error of approximately 3% and a 95% confidence level.

The survey was conducted by random selection

of telephone numbers among national voters

twenty-years old and above.

...latest DPP survey on ECFA

The DPP’s ECFA Subcommittee issued a state-

ment in response to the “early harvest list” pro-

duced in the June 24th meeting between the vice

chairmen of the Straits Exchange Foundation and

ARATS.

From the contents released so far by Taiwan’s

Ministry of Economic Affairs, the “early harvest

list” produces no realistic timeline that highlights

when the liberalization of goods and services will

take place. The list also proves that President Ma

Ying-jeou’s previous promises on protecting

against Chinese goods and workers from entering

Taiwan were unfounded.

Based on a recent survey conducted by the

DPP regarding the public’s views on ECFA,

nearly 70% of the public said they were still un-

clear about the contents of the agreement. The

survey also reflected the fact that the majority of

the public were concerned that, after ECFA is

signed, the problems of unemployment, wage re-

duction and wealth gap will worsen.

Julian Kuo, spokesperson of the DPP ECFA

Subcommittee, said that Taiwan’s previous nego-

ECFA’s early harvest list begins to show the real damage

... continued " om the previous pag e



JUNE 2010

PAGE 4

tiations under WTO included an open timeline,and it was expected that the Ma Administration

would use the same standard to show an honest

approach to the ECFA process.

President Ma had also made a previous

promise that ECFA would bring great economic

benefits for Taiwan and it was imperative to

sign the agreement in order to “save Taiwan’s

economy”. The DPP ECFA Subcommittee says

that the “early harvest list”, however, will only

benefit large enterprises while mid-sized andsmall companies will bear the early losses.

“The government continues to emphasize

that ECFA’s monetary income from the ‘early

harvest list’ is greater than China, but this ‘earlyharvest income’ mainly favors the larger indus-

tries and overlooks the ‘early losses’ of Tai-

wan’s mid-size and traditional industries,” Kuo

said.

In regards to President Ma’s promise that

Chinese labor will not enter Taiwan, the “early

harvest list” shows that it will further liberalize

9 service industries from China. The DPP ECFA

Subcommittee says that it was unclear how the

government planned to prevent Chinese invest-

ment firms from bringing their own white-collar workers into Taiwan as there are already 100

items in the service industry that are liberalized

under a government plan.

Furthermore, the DPP ECFA Subcommittee

said it was problematic that ECFA models after

the CEPA between China and Hong Kong,

which paved the way for a “One China” market.

“In the ECFA agreement, an ECFA Eco-

nomic Cooperation Council will be established

and it will include departments for follow-upand dispute settlements, all of which are outside

executive, legislative and judi-

cial oversights,” Kuo said.

“When ASEAN Plus One only

incorporates a negotiating side

without any follow-up or dis-

pute settlement segments, the

DPP questions why Taiwan has

agreed to set up a model that

creates a One China market likeCEPA instead of following what

China is setting up with

ASEAN Plus One.”

The DPP has repeatedly ex-

pressed its concerns about

ECFA to the Ma Administra-

tion, calling on the government

to provide better explanation of the contents of

the agreement and make the process more

transparent. As this is an important topic for thelivelihood of Taiwanese citizens, the DPP and

the TSU along with civic organizations have

called for a referendum on ECFA, but has been

turned town by the Executive Yuan’s Referen-

dum Review Committee.

ECFA’s early harvest list begins toshow the real damage

... continued " om the previous pag e



JUNE 2010

PAGE 5

DPP Central Executive Committee Statement on the 21stAnniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre

We believe that the Tiananmen Massacre is one

of the greatest tragedies in the history of modern

China. Twenty-one years ago, when young stu-

dent activists called for democratic reform in

China, the Chinese government cracked down

on the movement through the use of force. To

this day, there have been no signs of apology or

regret expressed by the Chinese government for

the massacre. They have even tried to systemati-

cally erase any records or documents regardingthe event, attempting to make Chinese citizens

have no knowledge about the incident. We

thereby appeal to the Chinese government to

confront this painful part of its history, admit

their mistakes and apologize to the victims as

well as allow those who are in exile to return to

their home country.

We also wish to express to the Chinese gov-

ernment that although China in recent years has

developed itself economically, it is still anauthoritarian country. China still causes other

countries to have a great doubt and fear, and it

continues to be considered a regional security

concern. We appeal to the Chinese government

to cease suppressing democratic reform and to

start launching a political reform movement, al-

lowing China to break away from dictatorship

and to embrace the universal values of democ-

racy, freedom and human rights.

Concerning President Ma Ying-jeou’s changein attitude regarding the Tiananmen Massacre

since he took office by not discussing the mas-

sacre and even issuing a statement during last

year’s 20th anniversary “affirming the ad-

vancement of Chinese democracy”, we wish to

express deep regret. We severely reprimand to

the Ma administration for not discussing the

continued suppression of democracy activists in

China as well as China’s suppression of Taiwan-

ese values during the series of cross strait ex-

changes that have taken place. We strongly urge

the Ma administration to incorporate the values

of democracy and human rights into the list of

issues for cross strait discussion so that Taiwan

and China can interact under these universal

values. We strongly believe that when interact-

ing with China, Taiwan should not lower its

standards and abandon its values, especially not

holding back on our democratic and human

rights principles.In the future, the DPP will continue to strive,

along with all people concerned about democ-

racy and human rights, to take positive and ef-

fective action, engaging in dialogue with Chi-

nese human rights organizations and civic

groups so that democracy and human rights take

root in Taiwan and continue to thrive. At the

same time, we hope the seeds of these values

slowly blossom in China.



JUNE 2010

PAGE 6

Hot Air Golden 10 Year Promise DEMOCRACY & PROGRESS

PUBLISHED BY:

Department of International Aff airs DemocraticProgressive Party

9F, No. 30, Pei-Ping EastRoad, Taipei, Taiwan

Tel: 886-2-2392-9989 ext. 306

Fax: 886-2-2393-0342

Email: [email protected]

Website:

http://www.dpp.org.tw

DIRECTOR:

Bikhim Hsiao

DEPUTY DIRECTOR:

Hsieh Huai-hui

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Michael J. Fonte

EDITOR:

Ping -Ya Hsu

CONTRIBUTOR:

Stephanie Liao

Ever since the intensive debate on ECFA, President Ma has claimedthat the KMT will bring a Golden 10 Year Promise to the people in

Taiwan. The DPP seriously questions whether making this kind of

promise is what a responsible government should do. With the Ma

government's less than spectacular achievements since Ma became

president, his Golden 10 Year Promise appears doubtful.

It is even more irresponsible for Ma to blame KMT failures on ac-

tions made of the DPP when it was in government. The statistics

show that while the DPP was in office, the economy grew by a

healthy 4.44 percent, whereas under Ma the economy has shrunk by0.19 percent. The average unemployment rate when the DPP was in

power was 4.28 percent, compared to 5.35 percent for the Ma ad-

ministration. Furthermore, the average annual deficit under the DPP

was NT$17.54 billion, but it reached NT$27.44 billion just within

two years under Ma's government.

The DPP knows very well that the KMT is all about “government by

rhetoric”. The DPP doesn’t believe that the Ma government should

constantly entice the people of Taiwan with promises and deceive

them with false hope. Just to give an example, in the late 1990s, theneconomic minister Vincent Siew proposed Taiwan as an Asian Pa-

cific transport and business center. While this plan was grandly pro-

claimed, to Taiwanese people’s dismay, the plan did not pan out at

all. President Ma's 633 Promises are another example of such KMT's

governance. Despite the imitation of South Korea presidential can-

didate Lee Myung Bak 747 Promises, the Ma government has failed

to fulfill his 633 promises. It is clear by now that Ma Ying-jeou’s 10

Year Promise is simply hot air. For the past two years, the Ma ad-

ministration has focused on writing blank checks that his administra-

tion can't cash.

http://www.dpp.org.tw/

http://www.dpp.org.tw/

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

dpp newsletter june 2010

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