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Updated Friday, May 21, 2010 9:00 am TWN, CNA Opposition launches anti-ECFA sit-inThe three-day demonstration, which called for a referendum to be held on the issue, was organized to coincide with the second anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou's inauguration. As of Thursday afternoon, a few hundred people had gathered at the sit-in outside the Legislative Yuan. Among some of the most prominent protesters were opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei and former Premier Frank Hsieh. Tsai Chi-chang, a spokesman for the DPP, urged the people to join the sit-in, which he said will allow them to think about whether their life has become happier over the past two years of Ma's term. “Is signing the ECFA favorable to Taiwan? We should also think about what path Taiwan should take in the future,” Tsai said. He expressed disapproval of what he described as Ma's “self-complacency” with a report released Wednesday by the International Institute for Management Development, which ranks Taiwan as the world's eighth most competitive economy, up from 23rd a year ago. According to Tsai, the competitiveness report mainly evaluates a country's investment and business environment from the perspective of businesses, and the higher the degree of trade liberalization, the higher the competitive ranking will get. Despite its high competitiveness ranking, Taiwan has performed poorly in major economic indices over the past two years, Tsai argued. For example, he said, the country's unemployment rate has been the highest among Asia's four little dragons, the average earnings by local workers have declined to the level of 13 years ago, and the number of families living in poverty has increased by 15 percent. Meanwhile, the revenue shortfall of NT$250 billion in 2009 was the highest ever recorded by Taiwan, Tsai said. He said the widening gap between the rich and the poor is the most serious problem faced by Taiwan today and he urged Ma to “turn around and look at those people who are weeping.” Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here Comments May 21, 2010 johnny.brian@ Reply During the global financial meltdown, most of countries suffered. If today Taiwan is like Greece, I will join the protest. If not, I will not. Luckily, Taiwan is not badly affected. Only fools follow DPP. May 21, 2010 carltanong@ Shame on you Tsai. If you and your DPP partners have nothing to do for our country and people, go on sit till 2012 by yourselves. But the people need to work and earn money for their family. The students need to go to school to pursue their education. In 2006-2008, what are you doing then in your air-con office??? What a shame. You and your DPP partners have done nothing from 2000-2008. Only POWER without POWER TO SERVE for our country and people. What are you crying for Rally, Demonstration and Referendum??? What's your main purpose? Shameless. Don’t forget one thing. YOU AND YOUR DPP PARTNERS HAD FAILED AND DISSAPOINTED THE PEOPLE. THE PEOPLE HAD SUFFERED FROM 2000-2008. The people can’t TOLERATE anymore from your lie to fool them again. A friendly advice to you Tsai, go on sit-in and hold press conferences until 2012. Let the people understand more that you are a mentally ill and insecure Chairwoman of the DPP. Disgusting!!! May 22, 2010 stumpfoot@ The problem with an opposition party "opposing everything the ruling party does" - just for the sake of it - has one major drawback. That is - if the policy you're opposing happens to be a good one - you end up forever promoting causes detrimental to the national interest. What a remarkably useless strategy. But what do you expect from a bunch of peasant brains? What's the next DPP initiative? Banning all trade with foreign countries? Scrapping the NT$ and using bananas as the national currency? May 22, 2010 ludahai_twn@ @johnny.brian -- only fools would lead their country into the arms of a dragon that actively claims it as a part of its own territory... insane...So much for Horsey's promise to protect the sovereignty of the nation... May 22, 2010 rono45@ The opposition are a pack of liars. Did the signing of the WHO require a referendum during Ah Bian's time? Will the signing of FTAs with Singapore or Philippines require a referendum in the future? Why single out the EFCA? Ma is doing a better job than Ah Bian’s 8 years of shutting down the country. Ma needs to be more gutsy to carry out his mandate. It was what he was elected to do and if he is not going to carry out his mandate, he should step down and let others do it. |
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