Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Groups tell government to stop FTA scare tactics

Taipei Times

Members of the Economic Democracy Union and other civic organizations raise their fists at a press conference in Taipei yesterday at which they accused the government of exaggerating the potential impact of the free-trade agreement between China and South Korea to force through cross-strait trade pacts.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Several civic groups yesterday accused the government of exaggerating the potential impact of an impending free-trade agreement (FTA) between China and South Korea after the two countries’ leaders concluded talks on the accord at the APEC summit on Monday.

While the Presidential Office has said the agreement would allow South Korea to further outpace Taiwan in key economic sectors, critics say the government is overstating the impact of the treaty to force the passage of several cross-strait trade agreements and related legislation.

Canadian lessons on Chinese links

Robert Henderson

During the September 2012 APEC Summit in Vladivostok, Russia, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and then-Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) signed an investment treaty.

Formerly known as a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement, Harper tabled the agreement before the Canadian parliament for discussion on Sept. 26, 2012. Such trade deals do not require Canadian parliamentary approval and can be ratified by a Canadian Cabinet order-in-council, as it is a matter of national sovereignty.

Groups hope calls for constitutional reform recognized

Taipei Times

Major political parties may be feeling the crunch in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election as participants in the Sunflower movement announced earlier this week the start of a new movement to promote constitutional reform via the will of the people in hopes of circumventing the restrictions imposed by the Referendum Act (公民投票法).

KMT lost without DPP opposition

Taipei Times Editorial

It is no longer a secret that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) and the ruling party, which is struggling to shore up sagging poll numbers, have started to “colorize” the election campaign by attempting to emphasize the affiliation of Lien and his main opponent, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), with the blue and green camps respectively, despite Ko being an independent candidate with no party affiliation.

Appealing to party adherence is an understandable approach in a well-functioning democracy, where political parties attract votes by persuading supporters that their policies and principles are superior to the opposition’s.

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