Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Taiwan should pay more attention to human rights developments in China because it serves Taiwan’s interests and it is an issue that crosses party lines, Chinese dissident Wang Dan (王丹) told a forum in Taipei yesterday.

Wang, one of the best-known student leaders of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 and who is now a visiting professor at National Tsing Hua University, said he has high hopes for Taiwan’s role in China’s struggle for democratization at a forum yesterday organized by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

The economic effects brought by the “early harvest” list of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) are more favorable to China than to Taiwan, according to a report released by the legislature’s Budget Center, a finding that contradicts a previous statement by Premier Sean Chen that touted the list’s “remarkable achievements.”

The “early harvest” list, which took effect in January last year, includes items that enjoy preferential tariffs first under the EFCA, an agreement signed between Taiwan and China in 2010 that also includes the opening up of certain industries.