wfn.org | PCT concerned ECFA will harm Aborigines’ livelihood through mislabeling

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

>      Taiwan Church News

>3035 Edition

>April 26~May 2, 2010

PCT concerned ECFA will harm Aborigines’ livelihood through  mislabeling

>Reported by Sam Lee

>Written by Lydia Ma

If an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) is ever  signed and 
tariffs

removed from all trade between China and Taiwan, Aborigines in  Taiwan stand to

lose a great deal. This statement was issued by Chou Ni-an,  convener of White-

Collar Workers Against ECFA Alliance, during an Indigenous  Ministry Committee

>meeting at PCT headquarters on April 21.

Because many Aborigines have expressed confusion about what ECFA  entails,

PCT Indigenous Ministry Committee decided to clarify what ECFA  means for

Taiwan during one of its meetings. Among the issues discussed was  whether

Taiwanese products would really be easier to market and sell if  Taiwan and 
China

>lifted tariffs.

Chou, a member of PCT’s Urban-Rural Mission Association,  underscored that only

Taiwanese products bearing the label “Made in China” can  be exported without

tariffs to the rest of the world if Taiwan and China sign ECFA. As  result, 
hand crafts

made by Taiwanese Aborigines will become Chinese products when  sold. Having

worked closely with Aborigine pastors, Chou knows that Aborigines  would find 
this

>kind of product mislabeling a serious insult.

Chou emphasized that having the outside world mistake Taiwanese  Aborigines’

artwork and produce as Chinese products would add insult to injury  for 
Aborigines

whose lands and resources have already been exploited. That is the  reason she

encourages Aborigines to resist ECFA and create an anti-ECFA  alliance.

However, a greater danger ECFA poses for Aborigines is that  Aborigines may

eventually join the ranks of abused workers unable to make a  living from their 
hard

work when they become preys for Chinese corporations. Corporations  may

manipulate Aborigines into selling their artwork at a very low  price, or 
imitate

Aborigine artwork and mass-reproduce them in China, to sell at a  higher price 
later.

Chou pointed out that ECFA would essentially pave the way toward  economic

integration between China and Taiwan, starting with a skewed,  unequal form of 
free

>trade.

An imminent concern is that Taiwan-made products must henceforth  be labeled

“Made in China” under ECFA if they are to be exported  under proposed

agreements. Though this may well increase exports for Taiwan,  Taiwanese

industries stand to lose the most when high-quality products made  in Taiwan are

subsequently labeled “Made in China” and sold under the  same price bracket as

>many poor-quality Chinese products.

According to PCT Indigenous Ministry Committee Program Secretary  Omi Wilang,

there will be more anti-ECFA events scheduled across Taiwan in  May, followed 
by a

nationwide rally in June that is expected to attract up to one  million people. 
PCT

Indigenous Ministry Committee plans to take part in all anti-ECFA  events 
scheduled

>in the next two months.

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