Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation
The Framework Agreement on Economic Cooperation (Chinese: 海峽 兩岸 經濟 合作 架構 協議Hǎixiá liǎng'àn jīngjì hézuò jiàgòu xiéyì , English: Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement , ECFA for short ) is a bilateral trade agreement between the People's Republic of China ( mainland China ) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) aiming to remove tariffs and trade restrictions between the two sides. The agreement was signed on June 29, 2010 in Chongqing .
Background and content
After decades of conflict between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) (see also the Taiwan conflict ) as a result of the Chinese civil war , when the Kuomintang came to power under President Ma Ying-jeou in 2008, a policy of rapprochement between the two sides began.
Previously, the Chinese government had promoted Taiwan's economic isolation by using its influence over other Asian governments to prevent Taiwan's bilateral trade deals with other countries. The Ma government saw a bilateral economic agreement with Beijing as an opportunity to find a way out of isolation.
The agreement signed in Chongqing on June 29, 2010 provides, among other things, for the gradual reduction or abolition of tariffs on certain export goods. Both sides also undertake to mutually open up certain market areas (such as banking, insurance and health care).
debate
The ECFA was and is controversial among the Taiwanese public. While the government interpreted the agreement as essential for stimulating the ailing Taiwanese economy, opposition parties such as the DPP fear an excessive economic and political dependence on China and negative consequences for the domestic economy, such as the penetration of cheap Chinese products into the domestic market and the Loss of local jobs. A highlight of the discussion was the televised debate between President Ma and opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen on April 25, 2010. On June 26, 2010, a large anti-ECFA demonstration with tens of thousands of participants took place in Taipei . a. a referendum on the agreement was called for.
Student protests in March 2014 (sunflower movement)
In March 2014, there were serious protests in the Taiwanese capital Taipei against an ECFA-based trade and services agreement between Taiwan and China. Contrary to an agreement signed on September 25, 2013 between the factions of the government and opposition parties of the Taiwanese parliament ( Legislative Yuan ), according to which the agreement should be discussed and ratified point by point, the faction of the ruling party declared on March 17, 2014 unilaterally the discussions concluded and the agreement ratifiable. Protests against this procedure erupted on March 18 in the occupation of parliament by mainly student demonstrators and citizens' groups. A brief occupation of the nearby Taiwanese government building ( Executive Yuan ) by demonstrators on the evening of March 23 was violently ended by police in the morning hours of the following day.
On March 30th, on the route between the still occupied parliament and the presidential palace in Taipei, a peaceful mass rally against the government's policies, which the student movement had called for and which several hundred thousand people took part, took place. After the government promised to enact a law to control future agreements with China and to return to point-by-point ratification of the trade and services agreement, the occupation of parliament was peacefully ended on April 10 after 24 days. The student protests came to be known as the Sunflower Movement .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Taipei Times, September 12, 2009
- ^ Taiwan News, June 25, 2010
- ^ Taipei Times, July 31, 2009
- ↑ Taipei Times, August 17, 2009
- ^ Agence France-Presse, June 26, 2010
- ^ The Diplomat, March 20, 2014
- ↑ Focus, March 24, 2014
- ↑ CNN, March 24, 2014
- ↑ 聯合 報 (United Daily News), March 31, 2014
- ^ Taipei Times, April 10, 2014
- ↑ Focus Taiwan, April 10, 2014
