THE LEADER of Taiwan’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has said she will launch a referendum in a bid to stop the signing of a major trade pact with cross-Strait rival China.
“The DPP will get the endorsement of one million people in order to push for a referendum against the ECFA (Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement),” party chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen told a crowd in front of the presidential office.
“It will be our best weapon to balance the government and to oppose its pro-China stance and protect Taiwan,” she said.
She was speaking after hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets of Taipei at the weekend to protest against Ma Ying-jeou’s policy of rapprochement with China, accusing the president of selling out to Beijing.
Thousands of DPP supporters then joined an overnight sit-in starting late on Sunday to protest against Mr Ma’s China-friendly policies, which they say have compromised the island’s sovereignty.
The focus of their protest is a planned trade deal with China which will partially open Taiwanese and Chinese markets to the other side’s goods and services.
The monster rally of demonstrators, wearing yellow headbands and carrying banners reading “Taiwan Yes, China No” and “Ma is a traitor”, is the third major protest this year. It is unlikely to make much difference to the political situation, but it is a strong signal that forging closer relations with the mainland remains a contentious issue on the self-ruled island.
Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist KMT fled here after they lost the civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communists.
Relations with Beijing have warmed considerably since President Ma swept to power in May last year, with trade deals, direct flights and even a pair of pandas travelling across the Strait of Taiwan to Taipei zoo.
Former president Chen Shui-bian, who supported independence, earning him Beijing’s ire, is on trial on corruption charges.
“Taiwan is not China, okay? I don’t want to co-operate with China. Ma is a liar and a slave to China. We belong to Taiwan, and we care for democracy and freedom and love,” said Hsieh Wen-jian, who travelled from the southern city of Hainan to take part in the weekend march.
The demonstrators all insisted that after six decades of self-rule, the democratic island and the communist mainland should never come together.