wfn.org | PCT announces historic conference in wake of ECFA

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3046 Edition

>July 12~July 18, 2010

PCT announces historic conference in wake of ECFA

>Reported by Sam Lee, Lin Yi-ying

>Written by Lydia Ma

As the Ma administration got ready to sign an Economic Cooperation  Framework

Agreement (ECFA) with China, PCT General Assembly Executive  Committee

convened its second meeting on July 6 and confirmed it’d hold  a “State of

National Affairs Conference” on October 26-28, 2010, at  Presbyterian Bible 
College in Hsinchu.

The conference’s theme will include the role and mission of  churches as Taiwan

faces yet another season of crises and turning points. PCT will  invite nearly 
200

representatives from various NGOs in Taiwan and abroad to discuss  latest

national developments from the perspectives of NGOs, churches, and  political 
parties.

Besides inviting PCT General Secretary Andrew Chang to speak on  church and

missions, Soochow University Department of Political Science  Associate

Professor Dr. Lo Chih-cheng will be invited to speak on how NGOs  can respond

to new national circumstances. DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen will be  invited to

speak on what opposition parties can do in light of the Ma  administration’s 
China-leaning policies.

This conference will adopt Open Space Technology (OST) for hosting  meetings,

which will begin with group discussions on the 3 topics presented  by the 
speakers

and conclude with the drafting of an agenda that will later serve  as a 
blueprint for

mutual cooperation between participants and the organizations they  represent.

In related news, many Taiwanese living in USA and Canada,  including members

from Greater New York Taiwan Pen Association, returned to Taiwan  to lobby

against ECFA. With help from PCT Associate General Secretary Lyim  Hong-

tiong, they held a press conference at PCT General Assembly  headquarters on 
July 8, 2010.

The press conference focused on dispelling myths about ECFA that  had been

circulated by the government in recent months, including rumors  that China was

bending over backwards and ceding rights and privileges for  Taiwan’s benefit

>under this trade agreement.

The press conference clarified that not only will ECFA force  Taiwan into 
accepting

the “One China Policy”, it’ll become an economic  tool for Beijing to control

Taiwanese politics. Taiwan’s manufacturing companies will be  hard hit and most

Taiwanese jobs risk being reduced to low-paying, low level, and  manual labor 
jobs.

Dr. Hsu Fu-tong, trade policy advisor to former U.S. President  Bill Clinton, 
noted

that many things about ECFA indicated it was an unusual trade  agreement

between two countries. He cited that countries negotiating a trade  agreement

rarely revealed their bottom line at the outset. But this is what  the Ma

administration has done, and Beijing has also uncharacteristically  agreed to 
cede

>some rights to Taiwan.

Based on these strange phenomena and his experience as national  trade

advisor, Hsu suspects some sort of conspiracy behind ECFA. He  worries that no

one in Taiwan really knows what national rights have been conceded  behind

close-door negotiations and Taiwanese people may discover too late  that they’ve

>paid too high a price.

Hsu further pointed out the Ma administration’s China-leaning  policies had 
already

set off alarm bells in Japan and US, to Taiwan’s detriment.  Though both 
countries

had considered Taiwan an ally in the past, they’ve now begun  adopting more

conservative and cautious tones when dealing with Taiwan. He  predicts if the Ma

administration continues its present course, Taiwan may soon  become a point of

>contention in US, China, Japan relations.

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