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Taiwan report warns against China trade pact

42 days ago

By ANNIE HUANG
Associated Press Writer

(AP:TAIPEI, Taiwan) An independent legislative research body has warned that Taiwan's recently signed trade pact with China is designed to help Beijing bring the democratic island under its control, offering an unusually strong rebuke to the government.

The report, which The Associated Press obtained Thursday, presents a major challenge to President Ma Ying-jeou as he leads his ruling Nationalist Party into a series of crucial local elections later this year.

Ma spokesman Lo Chih-chiang declined to comment on the report, which was issued earlier this week.

Ma has made the China trade pact _ officially known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement or ECFA _ the centerpiece of his two-year-old presidency, arguing it is necessary to prevent Taiwan's economic marginalization, particularly as China moves forward with free trade deals with other countries in the region.

Signed last month, ECFA will slash tariffs on a wide range of products and provide Taiwanese firms with access to new sectors such as banking and insurance on the mainland.

ECFA is part of Ma's overall effort to reduce tensions with China, and build a new, more cooperative relationship across the 100-mile- (160-kilometer-) wide Taiwan Strait 61 years after the island and the mainland split amid civil war.

While the research report, authored by the Legislature's Legal Department, did not dispute that ECFA would have a positive economic impact, it did suggest damage to Taiwan's sovereignty _ much in line with claims from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party.

"Eventually, our government might come under pressure from the private sector and agree to open bilateral political talks so the mainland could achieve its strategic goal of using economics to foster unification," the report said.

Ma insists the time is not yet right for such talks.

The pro-independence DPP has alleged Ma has a secret agenda and disputes government claims about ECFA's positive economic impact, saying it will cost jobs and make Taiwan too dependent on mainland markets.

The report characterized ECFA as part of a well-crafted plan by Chinese President Hu Jintao to bring Taiwan ever closer to Beijing before he steps down in 2012.

"President Hu Jintao realized that unification would be all but impossible to achieve under his term so he decided to sign ECFA to draw Taiwan closer to secure his legacy," it said.

The DPP will almost certainly use the legislative report to bolster its prospects in the run-up to municipal elections in November. Those polls are widely seen as a key test for Ma, who faces his own presidential re-election campaign in 2012.

Taiwan's Legislature, dominated by the Nationalists, is expected to pass ECFA next month. It has rejected the opposition's request for an article-by-article review of the pact, opting for all or nothing treatment instead.

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