Calls for safeguards surge as Taiwan enters post-ECFA era

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

3059 Edition

October 11~17, 2010

Headline News

Calls for safeguards surge as Taiwan enters post-ECFA era

Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong, Sam Lee

Written by Lydia Ma



Despite much controversy, the Ma administration proceeded to sign an 
Economic 

Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China effective September 
12, 2010, and 

Taiwanese people woke up to find themselves plunged into a post-ECFA 
era.



Many in Taiwan fear that ECFA will turn Taiwan into another Hong-Kong 
and urged the 

Legislative Yuan to establish safeguards to protect Taiwanese 
people’s rights. A Cross-Strait 

Agreement Watch (CSAW) organization was created through the coming 
together of many 

social organizations.



CSAW urged for policies to be enacted that would protect the human 
rights of both Taiwanese 

and Chinese workers, as well as their safety and basic freedoms.



Much haggling has taken place since then between the KMT and the DPP 
over specific, 

regulatory policies related to ECFA, but a chief complaint from the 
DPP camp has been that 

usual protocols that’d be followed when two countries are negotiating 
regulations surrounding 

foreign investments and trade have either been dismissed or 
tactically glossed over by the 

KMT-dominated Legislative Yuan.



Responding to the Ma administration opening the floodgates to Chinese 
workers, PCT 

Associate General Secretary Lyim Hong-tiong underscored that 
President Ma had once 

promised there wouldn’t be an influx of Chinese workers when ECFA is 
passed. He added that 

the latest about-face is merely another indication of this 
administration’s lack of integrity. 



Lyim said the current national unemployment rate is already very high 
and it’s unwise for the 

government to open Taiwan’s job market to Chinese workers. But if it 
is already a fait 

accompli, he stressed that native and foreign laborers should at 
least be given equal pay if they 

do the same type and amount of work.



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