Politically and Economically Forced by China? Taiwan's gover

Politically and Economically Forced by China? Taiwan's governing party eagerly forces to sign Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement with China.
By CSSTAtranslategroup

Today (March 17th) Ching-Chung Chang (張慶忠), a legislator from Taiwan’s governing KMT party, as the Chairperson of the Internal Affairs committee, declared to the Taiwan Parliament (the Legislative Yuan) that ‘the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services’ (hereinafter referred to as the "Agreement"), having been reviewed for more than three months, has been has accepted by the Internal Affairs committee and sent to the legislature to be voted into law, a vote which the KMT, who hold a majority in the legislature, will be guaranteed to win. Ching-Chung Chang had previously promised that the decision would follow a clause-by-clause review, however, Chang reneged on this promise and skipped the review process entirely today, and thus deemed the deliberation process to be already completed.
The international “agreement” is not a fair or safe agreement for Taiwan
The “agreement” regarding to the service and trade sectors was signed on September 2013 under the framework of ECFA to improve the freedom of the service industry market between Taiwan and China. Without the assessment of impacts, the KMT allowed the opening of 64 categories of industries from China, which may impact negatively on Taiwanese businesses and the labor force. The open sectors include the transportation industry (aviation, shipping and land transportation) which may threaten Taiwan’s national security, as well as the industries of communication (internet and information service), advertising and media, which may adversely affect freedom of speech in Taiwan. Also, if Chinese media companies take control of Taiwan’s printing industry and its retail sector, this may severely impact on the high level of press freedom currently enjoyed in Taiwan.
 In addition, the “agreement” was signed with inequitable conditions. For example, Chinese can investment in or immigrate to Taiwan with about 230 000 Euros, and there are no other restrictions on Chinese investment in Taiwan. However the “agreement” was set with many conditions, restrictions and obstacles for Taiwanese to enter the Chinese market, including restrictions on products and locations in China, and Taiwanese companies will also need to follow the rules and regulations controlling business in China. This agreement may bring benefits for large companies, but these will come at the sacrifice of small- and mid-scale Taiwanese companies.

The undemocratic and unjust “agreement" between Taiwan and China

On June 20th, 2013, The KMT government and the government of China signed the agreement without having a thorough discussion with scholars or concerned members of the affected industries. On the 25th the two major parties (KMT and DPP) agreed to examine the details of the agreement clause by clause, and in September they decided to open 16 extra public hearings. The ruling party KMT held 8 public hearings within three days (30th Sep -2nd Oct) and did not have any direct responses to the questions and advice of the scholars on site. The content of the "agreement" has not been modified by the government so far.

Legislator Chang Ching-Chung(張慶忠) declared in the last hearing on March 10th, 2014, that according to the related Act, this policy that will shatter the economy of Taiwan has been considered "reviewed" since the examination of it has not been finished by the Legislative Yuan within three months. The opposition party, the DPP arranged the review procedure of the Internal Administration Committee on the details of the content of the "agreement”, which is scheduled for the 12th and 13th, after the hearing that day. The Legislator Chen, Chi-Mai(陳其邁) from the DPP was appointed the chief of the committee; however, the whole procedure was intervened by the legislators of the KMT by taking away his microphone and sign-up sheet; thus, the examination was not able to be initiated that day. In addition, the KMT held a review meeting of the "agreement" on the 17th.
While the legislator of the DPP party was trying to take down the podium, legislator Chang Ching-Chung(張慶忠) of the KMT who was the chief of this committee announced at the corner of the conference hall :"The number of the present persons is 52, reaching the legally required number. Thus this meeting starts right now. Proceed with the discussion. The "agreement" has exceeded the limits of three months and could be taken as "reviewed" according to the relevant regulations. It will be sent to the related Yuan for documental filing. Meeting dismissed." The whole procedure had only lasted for 30 seconds then the "agreement" was considered reviewed and would be sent to the Legislator Yuan for voting. Upon this incident, the spokesman of the Executive Yuan of Taiwan, Sun, Li-Chun (孫立群) indicated that "We respect the decision of the Legislator Yuan and profoundly appreciate the endeavour of the Joint Committee of the Legislative Yuan and legislator Chang, Ching-Chung".

China Pushes Political Agenda with Economic Approach, Threatening Taiwan’s Democracy
The Taiwan Parliament (the Legislative Yuan) is currently under the control of the governing KMT (Chinese Nationalist Party), with a stable majority and long-lasting political power. Therefore after this insufficient deliberation on the Agreement, which has not included the legally required processes, Taiwan will inevitably be at serious risk of interference by China, economically as well as politically.